Monster
by HardBoiled
Summary: AU. After Klaus murders Sage, Finn joins Mikael and becomes a vampire hunter. Their quest for vengeance last centuries and the hunt leaves Finn bitter and believing he is nothing more then just a monster. Until he meets another vampire who shows him otherwise. Finn/Rose
1. Prologue part 1-1183 AD

**Venice, Italy-1183 AD**

The air was warm tonight, perfect for the fair. Crusaders from the holy lands were returning to their homes and brought many exotic items to sell. Everything from wine, jewelry, silk, and so much more. The streets were packed as thousands had arrived to buy a piece from the Holy Land or to celebrate with drink. The Taverns were overflowing with customers and coin. But one person amongst the crowd wasn't there to purchase something or celebrate. She was there to get back what was stolen from her. Sixty-nine years, eight months, and sixteen days. That was the last time Sage saw her love's face.

A woman born a commoner, highborn would rather avert their gaze or spit on Sage then say two words. Her father was a simple carpenter who traveled throughout Europe looking for work and took his daughter along with him. Sage learned how to weave baskets to help supplement their income. They didn't have much but at least they were happy. Then her father passed away and she had no one.

For years Sage was alone until one day some traveling nobles had come to visit her village. They were not like any other highborn though, they were immortals. A powerful and fearsome family that somehow attracted followers and admirers. There were five in total. Niklaus was the dominant one of the family, giving orders and expecting them to be obeyed. If they didn't, he would make them regret it. Elijah was charming and composed but seemed to excuse the terrible acts his siblings committed. Kol was a charismatic and charming womanizer that could quickly turn into a raging psychotic within seconds. Rebekah was the youngest of the siblings and seemed to take the simplest things very personally.

All of them were monsters in their own way, feeding on the blood of anyone they chose. But one of them was different. One of the siblings was shy and often kept to himself. People called him Finn and he never joined with the others in their feeding habits and shunned anyone who approached him. At least until Sage accidently ran into him. He was off in the woods hunting a squirrel to feed on their blood. While he was draining one he caught, Sage had stumbled upon him. She was terrified at first until she realized the man was embarrassed by being seen like this. He quickly ran off and in a way, Sage felt sorry for him.

She later saw him at a festival where the siblings were dancing with and feasting on the guests. No one seemed to mind as people from around had heard that they could grant their immortality to someone who proves themselves worthy of it. Everyone gladly tried to appease the beasts, hoping one day they too could become just like them. Sage kept her distance from the others but couldn't stop herself from approaching the man she saw in the woods. Finn recognized her and apologized for frightening her. His voice was kind and gentle, something Sage had never heard from any nobleman she had ever met.

The two started talking and didn't stop for hours. They talked about their lives, their families, their hopes and dreams. Sage found herself smiling for the first time since her father died and Finn was actually smiling instead of brooding off in a corner away from his family's antics. He even agreed to walk her home, saying her company was much more preferable then his brothers or sister. She invited him to come inside her home but he refused, saying it was better this way. Finn didn't want to risk being able to attack her should he ever become unstable. As she went to bed, Finn's charming voice and handsome smile was all Sage could think about the rest of the night.

Sage's mind returned to the present as she continued her mission through the city. Hearing of a group of recently arrived nobles in the city who matched the description of the Mikaelsons, Sage had compelled hundreds of people across the city hoping to discover where Niklaus kept his secret and treasured items. It took some time but eventually she heard that Klaus and his family owned a boat in the harbor. Sage scoped the area out and noticed that there were always guards patrolling one particular boat. Klaus probably compelled them to do it and it probably wasn't just to protect the ship. If there was anyplace Finn was being kept it was here.

After that first night with Finn, Sage couldn't stay away from him and vice versa. While his siblings continued their hunting expeditions and parties, Finn and Sage would sneak off somewhere private and just spend hours together. It didn't matter what they talked about or did, Sage never wanted it to end. But their continued time together started attracting unwanted attention. Kol was the first to notice and immediately started hounding both of them. First it was just petty insults like calling Sage an unworthy little harlot. Then it got worse when he knocked Finn to the ground and bite Sage's neck. He didn't drink from her but instead shoved her on top of Finn and Kol told his brother to have a drink. When Finn refused to drink her blood, Kol left disgusted.

Soon afterwards, the rest of the siblings caught on. Elijah didn't seem to mind but Rebekah was the complete opposite. She called Sage a commoner slut and always went out of her way to let her know it. Klaus by far was the worst of them all. He enjoyed tormenting Sage and Finn more than even Kol. Klaus hated that Finn only drank animal blood and not human blood. So his favorite past time was drinking Sage's blood right in front of Finn. Drinking animal blood made Finn weaker than his siblings so Klaus told him to either start with the human variety or he'll never be strong enough to stop him.

Sage finished reminiscing as she got closer to the boat, ready to tear the guards apart and free her beloved when she saw someone else strolling on the deck. The psychotic little brat of the Originals himself Kol. Sage could handle the others but not him. She watched the Original as he paced back and forth on the ship. Kol looked pissed and Sage realized this might not be so hopeless after all. The fact that he was angry and patrolling on a boat instead of partying with the rest of his siblings meant this was most likely a punishment from Klaus. Kol was about ready to leave, all he needed was just the right incentive.

Sage found some prostitutes and compelled them to pass by the boat, batting their eyes at Kol as they went by. They caught his attention and soon enough, the Original leaped off the boat onto the docks and followed them. Sage waited until he was out of sight then zipped around the guards, snapping their necks, before rushing onto the boat. She checked the lower deck and her heart flustered when she saw the coffin. She ripped it open and there he was, the man she loved. Finn was desiccated, his skin pale and dry with a silver dagger sticking out of his chest. Sage had heard of what happened to him but seeing it was heartbreaking. She couldn't imagine what it was like to be in this state.

Outrage by what his family had done to her, Finn left them. He and Sage planned it soon after Klaus's abuse and the two ran off without any warning to the rest of the Mikaelsons. Finn had no regrets, saying he felt liberated finally being away from them. For the next several years the couple traveled the continent, visiting the likes of Rome, Athens, Constantinople, and countless other cities and wonders.

Then two years into their journey, Sage asked Finn the biggest question ever in her life. It wasn't asking for marriage but asking him to turn her into a vampire. She had so much fun and she never wanted it to end. Sage wanted to be with him forever. Finn at first refused, thinking that turning her would somehow corrupt her and change her into someone other than the woman he loved. But when Sage caught a disease and her health quickly deteriorated, Finn changed his mind. He made her drink his blood then Finn did something that he admitted would be traumatizing to the both of them. Without warning, he snapped her neck.

Sage later awoke, healed and with a thirst. Finn compelled a local peasant from the village they were staying at to be Sage's first victim. She bite in the man's wrist and started sucking blood out of his veins. Sage just wanted a quick drink but the more blood that touched her lips, the harder it was to stop. Finn had to physically restrain her from killing the man and calm her down. After compelling the man to forget what happened and leave, the two lovers knew this wouldn't be easy but at least they had each other.

Back in the present, Sage grabbed the dagger and pulled it out of Finn's chest. She wasn't sure how long it would take for him to rejuvenate but she didn't have time to wait and find out. Using her strength, Sage picked him up with ease and carried him to the upper deck. The dead guards on the docks were starting to get attention and worse, Kol was returning. Rather than face him head on, Sage turned and jumped into the river. Swimming through cold water carrying dead weight was a small price to pay to escape.

* * *

Finn gasped as oxygen filled his lungs for the first time in who knows how long. His whole body felt decrepit and withered. His vision was clouded, barely able to make out any shapes or colors. He screamed in pain as he moved his bones which had felt stiff and took effort to snap them into moving. Finn didn't understand what was happening. The last thing he remembered was going to bed after a heated argument with Klaus and then nothing.

For almost a century, Finn and Sage had lived together traveling the European continent and experiencing everything there was to experience. They had lived lives as farmers, nobles, poets, singers, or anything else they wanted to be. Life was so short for humans and they didn't even get to experience a fraction of what this world offered. While in Germania, Finn received a message from his half-brother. Klaus had sent out hundreds of compelled messengers throughout Europe to find all the members of his family. He wanted them all to talk and discuss something important. Sage begged him not to go but Finn didn't really have a choice. If he didn't go, Niklaus would later hunt them down for not heeding his command. Finn traveled to Italy to hear his brother out then tell him to stay out of his life. Clearly something went wrong because he was just waking up after God knows how long.

"Easy easy," a voice tried to calm him but it was distant. He didn't know what has happened to him but it was someone's doing that was for sure. Maybe the voice belonged to whoever did this to him. He wouldn't let this happen again without a fight. Finn reached out, trying to grab his attacker. His hands grasped flesh and squeezed with an iron tight grip.

"Finn wait stop," the voice pleaded. Wait he knew that voice. His eye sight began to clear up as he realized someone was standing over him, being forced to lean over by Finn who was grasping a thin arm.

"Sage?" Finn gasped. Her beautiful face began to form before his eyes as his vision was restored. He quickly released her. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Sage smiled. God he missed that smile. Just being away from her for the week it took him to reach Klaus was nearly unbearable. When he first became a vampire, Finn was ashamed of his existence. He lived by consuming the blood of other people. While his siblings reveled in it, Finn was disgusted by it. The urge to inflict harm upon another human being was revolting. Still he carried on though he didn't know why. He hoped things would get better but Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol only became more monstrous with their behaviors. Over time, Finn began to question what why he wanted to even remain alive. He was a monster just like the rest of his family and that wasn't going to change. Until Finn met Sage and then for the first time since his change into a vampire, he had a reason to live.

Sage leaned down and the two kissed passionately. She climbed on top of Finn as the two started to undress one another. Wouldn't be the first time they made love on top of a wooden table. Afterwards, Finn dinned on some rabbits Sage caught earlier. She then explained how she found him and that he had been daggered for nearly ninety years. Almost an entire century of Finn's life taken away by those damned hunters and more importantly his own family. The hunters may have put the silver dagger in his heart but Finn's own siblings left it inside of him and kept him stuffed in a box. He knew Klaus, Elijah, Kol, and Rebekah were monsters but Finn never imagined that they were capable of this.

"Those bastards!" Finn snapped.

"Forget them. Let Mikael chase them all off the ends of the Earth," said Sage.

"Forget them? Sage they took away half a century of my life and separate me from you!" shouted Finn.

"All the more reason to stay away from them. There's a ship in the docks that's sailing to Cyprus in the morning. From there we can find another ship to take us to the Holy Lands. There's so much fighting going on there we can easily dine on the locals and no one will ever suspect a thing," Sage urged him.

"You know I don't drink human blood," Finn glared at her.

Sage threw him a look, "Not drinking human blood is why your siblings were able to bully you. We can't afford to be weak again."

"We were never weak," protested Finn.

"Is that why Kol was able to shove you around the first time he caught us alone? Or the time Klaus ripped out your tongue for defending me from him?" scoffed Sage.

"We didn't stoop to their level. We're not monsters like them," replied Finn. Though there were plenty of times he wanted to drink human blood just so he could be strong enough to fight back, Finn couldn't bring himself to do such a thing. The Mikaelsons were the exact same creatures as their Father, the man who murdered their Mother. And Finn refused to be the same monster as him.

"You ever witness a Viking raid Finn? No offense to your ancestors but they were vicious animals who looted, raped, and killed anything they wanted. The only way you stop them from attacking you isn't to be civilized, it's to be just as ruthless as they are. Bullies don't fight those who fight back and when you do, you make them so afraid they'll never attack you again," said Sage.

Finn couldn't believe how their happy reunion had suddenly turned into an argument. He's never enjoyed violence. One reason among many Father considered his eldest son to be a disappointment. Mikael didn't get the bloody thirty warrior son he wanted from Elijah either and Freya's sacrifice only made him more distant from his family. Klaus's birth seemed to bring everyone together again but Mikael later began to loathe and hate him. First for being weak then for taking Henrik out in the woods and not defending him from a werewolf attack. Add to the fact that Klaus wasn't really his son and its little wonder Mikael hated him so much. Finn used to believe that Klaus didn't deserve the hatred Father harbored for him but after the things his younger brother did, Finn was starting to think perhaps the half-breed got what was always coming to him.

"Please Sage. Can we not talk about this right now?" sighed Finn as he touched her face with both hands. "We'll leave and go wherever you want to. I'll stay with you and never go back to my family ever again. But please don't ask me to change into something I don't want to be. We're not monsters," he pleaded.

Sage's expression softened as she took Finn's hands into her own. "Alright you softie," she sighed.

Finn frowned, "Softie?"

"Finn Mikaelson. One of the strongest beings to walk this planet and yet shudders at the thought of accidentally stepping on an ant," teased Sage.

* * *

Finn and Sage enjoyed their night back together at a small brothel near the docks. Not exactly the appropriate place for such an event but they had to make do. Klaus and the others were still in the city. The last thing Finn was wanted to see was anyone in his family fight now. From now on, he had no obligation towards them. They left him in a box to rot now they can do the same as far as Finn is concerned. He was going to take Sage somewhere far away and spend the rest of eternity seeing everything this world has to offer. Now the two of them were waiting at the docks for their ship to sail.

"I'll never understand how some place that has so much blood spilled over it can be considered holy," commented Finn as he glanced out into the Mediterranean with Sage on their ship.

"Especially a desert of all places. If they said the holy land was filled with wine and naked men then I'd agree with them," chuckled Sage.

Finn threw her a look. "As long as naked women are with them as well," he laughed. Sage punched him in the arm which only made him laugh harder.

"Well isn't this just sweet," a familiar voice spoke them. Finn's blood ran cold when he realized who it was. He turned to see Niklaus standing on their boat. Finn's younger half-brother had a neutral look on his face. He didn't seem angry but he didn't seem happy to see them either. "Together again after more than half a century. I guess true love really does overcome all obstacles."

"Klaus," gasped a terrified Sage.

"Hello my dear. You aren't suffering from some form of aliment I trust? One affecting your memory perhaps? I hope not but in case you are, allow me to refresh it," Klaus glared at her.

"Brother please," pleaded Finn. If Niklaus decided to harm Sage, there was little he could do. Aside from Father, no one could match his strength and speed. It allowed him to bully and intimidate his siblings. Finn might have stood a chance against him if he had consumed human blood but that went against everything he believed in. He didn't want to become the same monsters as his family.

"I'll get to you in a minute," Klaus said to silence Finn then turned his attention to Sage. "I told you that your beloved belongs to this family and he will remain with us even if I have to leave him in a box. I also warned you what would happen should you ever try to take what belongs to me."

"Enough Niklaus," said Finn, getting in-between his brother and Sage.

Klaus stared at him, "Such loyalty to your beloved carpenter's daughter. If only you had the same loyalty to your own family."

"Ah yes, now and forever," mocked Finn. "Somehow over the years you twisted that family vow into living only for your own pleasure. We either fulfill your whims or we suffer the consequences. How many more of Rebekah's lovers have you killed since we last spoke? How many more trivial demeaning tasks you forced Kol to carry out? How many sadistic acts did you force Elijah to watch and remain silent?"

Klaus smiled, "Glad to see you finally found some backbone."

"Why can't you just leave us in peace?" asked Sage.

"Because none of us can be left in peace. Mikael seeks our family's death and has the means to do it. But instead of doing his duty as the eldest brother and protecting his family, Finn here would rather run off with the first pair of lovely tits that catches his eye," replied Klaus.

"The same family who left me daggered in a box for sixty-nine years!" shouted Finn.

"Because you betrayed me!" Klaus shouted back and getting into his brother's face. By now members of the ship's crew noticed what was going on. Sage moved over to the captain and compelled him to get the crew to leave. "You were the oldest of us. You were supposed to protect us. Protect me," Klaus continued. Strangely he almost seemed on the verge of tears. "How many times did Father beat me and not once did you ever lift a finger to stop it. Rebekah, Kol, and Henrik I understand why they couldn't do anything. They were too young to stop him but not you. Elijah was too afraid but you were old enough to challenge him."

"Is that what this is about? You're angry because I didn't stop the beatings Father gave you? To take them instead of you?" asked Finn.

"Yes!" shouted Klaus. Finn couldn't believe what he was hearing. Klaus actually expected his eldest brother to suffer for him. Forget that such love is earned but to think that he was actually entitled to have his family endure Father's abuse instead of him was just selfish. Sure Finn considered trying to stop the beatings but he was always too afraid and Mikael was still his Father. You honor your parents.

"But that's all in the past Finn," Klaus continued. "Mikael is still out there hunting us. We need you at our side. I need you at my side. Come back to us brother and we can all be a family again."

Finn didn't even need a second to consider his brother's request. "Do you even hear yourself Niklaus? You talk as if our entire family revolves around you. The years I spent alongside you, Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol were hell. But instead of simply letting me leave to find happiness for myself, you'd leave me rotting away in a coffin. I want nothing more to do with you or anyone else in this family!" he snapped.

Klaus stepped back, seemingly offended by his brother's remarks. "I see," he sighed as if disappointed. "Well go on then. Leave. If you don't want to be a part of this family then do us all a favor and run off with your little harlot!" Klaus shouted. He turned and stormed off.

Finn and Sage both breathed huge sighs of relief. Klaus wasn't known for taking rejection very well. More than once during his time with his family, Finn remembered seeing his half-brother rip people's hearts out for sometimes the most trivial slights. Perhaps he shouldn't have lost his temper with Niklaus but after everything that happened to him, Finn just couldn't contain it. At least he was gone.

"Are you alright?" Sage asked, touching her lover's shoulder.

"I will be once we leave here," Finn sighed.

Sage nodded and said, "I'll go get the Captain back."

She headed off towards the gangplank when suddenly Klaus reappeared, zipping right in front of Sage. "I said my brother is free to leave. I never said you were," Klaus spoke before suddenly thrusting his right hand into Sage's chest. His fist burst through the back of her spine, clenching a bloody lump.

"NO!" Finn shouted as he raced forward and knocking his brother down, dislodging his arm from Sage's chest in the process. Finn managed to catch Sage before her body slumped to the ground. He checked her vitals but she was dead, her heart had been ripped out. Finn eye's swell up in tears as he clenched his love's body. It couldn't end like this. Not after they finally found each other again.

"Oh dry those tears Finn. She was nothing but an anchor dragging you down into mediocrity. She would have died eventually anyways. It may not have been for another century or two but you would still be experiencing exactly what you are feeling right now. Better to get this out of the way and move on," Klaus said as he got to his feet.

At the sound of his brother's words, Finn's mourning turned into blind rage. He gently set Sage's body and sped right into Klaus, tackling him through the entrance into the underdeck. The two of them crash landed on a series of wooden cargo boxes, shattering them all to pieces. Ignoring the pain caused by the landing, Finn on was Klaus within a heartbeat punching him again and again and again. Klaus finally caught one of the blows and hurled Finn overhead, sending him into the wooden hull. The impact cracked the hull and Klaus was upon Finn instantly, slamming his head into hull over and over until Finn's skull had left a hole in the wood. He was starting to see stars and nearly blacked out before Klaus released him. Finn slid to the floor, his vision blurry and unable to stand.

"I understand you're angry Finn but you need to understand you belong with us. You want to know why the others left you daggered? It's because you abandoned us. Elijah, Rebekah, Kol, you left all of them when they needed you. That's why no one bothered to rip that dagger from your chest," Klaus said as he pulled out a silver dagger. Finn managed to gather what strength he had left, charging at his brother. But Klaus easily sidestepped his attack and kicked him away, sending Finn flying back to the ground.

Klaus leaped on top of him and stabbed his brother in the chest. "Think on that while you sleep," he whispered before darkness overtook Finn.

(Originally this whole fic was going to be about an OC but the more I came up with the character, the more he sounded like Finn so I just decided to use him instead. It's gone through several changes to try and stay consistent with the flashbacks shown on the Originals but the fact was that we didn't know much about Finn before he became a vampire. We only saw him after being daggered nine hundred years which probably sent him over the edge. So I feel I can change him for this story but not too much. I know some people might be questioning why Finn/Rose but the pairing does have a reason that will be explained in future chapters. Hope you liked and please review.)


	2. Prologue part 2

Rebekah, Elijah, and Kol all stood at the edge of the dock waiting for the fighting to subside. Klaus told them all to stay back while he dealt with Finn and Sage. They heard their elder brother's screams and the sounds of a struggle inside the bowls of the ship. Eventually everything went silent and within moments, Klaus returned carrying a desiccated Finn on his back. Kol opened the coffin they had ready and Klaus dumped his eldest brother into it.

"Welcome back big brother," Klaus muttered as he closed the lid. Elijah glared at Niklaus, furious that his half-brother brought their missing brother back by killing Sage and putting Finn back in his coffin. "Something to say Elijah?" Klaus said after noticing the looks from his brother.

"If you weren't my brother Niklaus, I'd want to kill you," Elijah replied. Rebekah was horrified by his words but Kol smiled, no doubt finding this whole situation amusing.

"You wanted me to bring Finn back and this was the only way to do it. Granted it might take a few centuries before he'll get over her but the point is he's back with our family," Klaus spoke.

"Was killing Sage necessary?" demanded Elijah.

"Oh don't act like you cared about her. You blamed her for Finn leaving us," Klaus pointed out.

"I did but it was still our brother's choice to leave. Not that I blame him considering how we all treated him," said Elijah.

"We treated him exactly as he deserved," replied Kol.

"Really? Maybe if we treated him like family he wouldn't have run into the arms of that slut," snapped Rebekah.

Kol scoffed, "It's our fault big brother had poor taste in women? Though I must admit at least his taste in the opposite sex is better than yours."

"At least I actually know how to love something other than my own reflection," Rebekah shot back.

"Enough!" shouted Klaus, silencing his siblings. "Rebekah, Kol, take Finn and put him on our ship. I would have words with Elijah," he commanded.

"You could compel the sailors for that," complained Kol.

Klaus glared as his younger brother with those ruthless eyes he gets every time he gets angry. "Yes but I'm telling you to do it," Nik said in a dangerous tone. Kol knew better than to defy him when his half-brother was in this kind of mood. Glaring at Rebekah, Kol grabbed the coffin and easily hosted above his head as he followed his sister down the docks.

"I can't believe this," Kol grumbled once the two of them were far enough away from their arguing elder siblings. "Carrying around cargo like I'm some peasant," he protested.

"Well if you'd just guarded Finn like you were supposed to instead of chasing the first skirt that passes you by, none of this would have happened," replied Rebekah.

"That's my point. We're Nik's family, not his slaves," Kol grumbled.

"To him we might as well be," muttered Rebekah. They arrived at their boat which seemed strangely quiet. Klaus had compelled the crew to get it ready to sail but there wasn't a single person working on the deck. Something was wrong.

"And you think I'm lazy? Where's the crew?" demanded Kol as the two siblings stepped onboard and set the coffin down.

"Hello?!" Rebekah called out, getting more nervous. You'd think an Original vampire wouldn't be afraid of anything but Rebekah found she could still be just as afraid of something as when she was human.

"Hello children," a voice behind them. Rebekah's blood ran cold as she recognized it. Beside her, Kol turned pale. The two turned around to a man emerging from the Captain's cabin covered in blood. It didn't take much else to realize that he must have killed the crew. Mikael, the Original Vampire and their father, looked as imposing and threatening as the last day they saw him just before he went on a murderous rampage that included killing his own wife.

"Now where is that wretched creature you call brother?" Mikael demanded.

* * *

Mikael smiled as Kol and Rebekah raced off. He rushed after them, tracking their every movement but keeping his distance. Hopefully once they thought they lost him, they would lead him back to Niklaus. Mikael had waited nearly two centuries for this moment and his fingers couldn't help but clench on the white oak stake he had hidden in his cloak. Today that bastard would pay for everything he's done. That abomination turned Mikael's own children against him and he even murdered his own mother. Truthfully, Mikael might have murdered Esther when he fought out she lay with a beast but he was robbed of that. At least he could relish the bastard's screams as he would drive his stake into Klaus's heart.

Mikael had spent so much time hunting the bastard down that he never really considered what he would do once it was over. Would he make amends with his surviving children once they got over Klaus's death? Maybe in a few centuries though as they have become more than just disappointments to him. They've become uncontrollable monsters who can't control their own impulses or passions. Mikael wanted his children strong and powerful, not becoming beasts. Perhaps once he enforces discipline into their lives, eventually they can become something better.

Finn would most likely be the easiest to turn as he had little love for Klaus and wouldn't miss him. But he was always too soft and preferred the company of his mother. Elijah had potential but he was too kind-hearted and compassionate. When Klaus was born, Mikael was sure he had finally had a warrior. He proved to be the greatest disappointment of all, even before Mikael learned the bastard's true origins. Kol was nothing more than a prankster, Loki personified. And Rebekah was never meant to be a warrior. She should have dabbled in magic like her mother and had children of her own. But whatever future she had died along with Henrik.

The moment Mikael lost his youngest child, he couldn't afford to lose another and he along with his wife Esther turned to the witch Ayana to turn their children immortal. The witch refused so Esther performed the deed herself. They used the doppelganger Tatia's blood to first turn Mikael into an immortal to see if it would work. When it did, Mikael and Esther invited their children to a family feast. They put drops of blood in wine which each of their children drank. That was the first step of the ritual. The husband and wife then told them what would happen next and the children panicked. Mikael was forced to use brutal methods to ensure the second step, they all died. When his children resurrected, Mikael took a villager from the nearby werewolf village and allowed them all to drink her blood. This finished the ritual and made them immortal.

At first the only side effects they suffered was being burned by the sun but Esther remedied that by creating daylight rings for her husband and children. The thirst for blood however was the one thing neither parents could do to suppress or stop. Mikael could only watch as his children turned into monsters with the realization that he would become just like them. His horror was lost when he found out Niklaus wasn't his child and that Esther slept with a werewolf. Furious, Mikael tracked down the village where Esther's lover lived and slaughtered him and almost his entire pack with the survivors scattering. He would have done that sooner after one of them killed Henrik but Esther cautioned restraint. Mikael was through with restraint. With the wolves dead, he headed back to his home where he found it devastated. A single survivor told him in his dying breath that Klaus killed everyone after getting into an argument with his mother. That savage murdered his own mother. Despite Esther's betrayal, Mikael was furious. Before they burn the white oak tree they used in the ritual that turned them immortal, he fashioned a stake from it as a means to threaten his children should they ever become out of control. It was the only thing capable of killing anyone of them and now he would use it to send Klaus straight to Hell.

Mikael trailed his two children as they double backed towards the docks. So Niklaus had been closer than he thought. How cute Kol and Rebekah wanted to lead their father away to protect their half-brother. Too bad they didn't realize they simply just led Mikael right to Klaus. After almost two centuries, the hunt was coming to a close. His children's trail led Mikael back to the docks. They probably hoped to double back and take off on a ship before their father found them. Mikael's hand drew the white oak stake, ready to strike the second he saw the bastard. His children had boarded a ship, no doubt where Klaus was hiding.

Time to finish this. Mikael rushed onboard, ready to strike except no one was on deck. Aside from several barrels, there was no one on board. Where they trying to hide? His question was answered by the sound of water splashing. Mikael rushed towards the side to see Rebekah and Kol in the bay swimming rapidly away. If they hoped to get away that easily than they were greater fools then Mikael suspected. He was about to jump in after them when he smelled smoke. Before Mikael even had a chance to react, a massive explosion sent him flying off the ship. The next thing he realized, he was floating face down in the bay.

Mikael shot his head up and gasped, taking in air. He glanced around to see the ship he was on engulfed in flames. Those barrels onboard must have contained explosive powder, a weapon that was rumored to have originated from the East. Mikael had only heard rumors of such a weapon but he'd never seen it until now. His children must have lured him there and set fire to one of the barrels before abandoning ship. Perhaps Rebekah and Kol were not the fools Mikael took them to be. He glanced around but saw no sign of his children. They've given him the slip once again.

Mikael cursed himself as he swam back to shore. It took two centuries to find them and now who knows how long it would take before he would be able to track them down again. Mikael immediately headed back to the ship where he first tracked them to. Perhaps they left behind a clue as to where they would run to next. The boat was still anchored at port as he rushed onboard. It was doubtful his children would still use it after being discovered but Mikael needed to be sure. He compelled the crew before killing them earlier but no one knew anything useful. They were never told where they were going next. But there was one thing his children did leave behind which was a coffin. Kol had been carrying it onboard before fleeing at the sight of his father.

Mikael ripped the wooden lip off and to his surprise, resting inside with a dagger stuck in his chest was Finn. His body was badly desiccated similar to the way any vampire did after being killed. Except Finn was immortal and the only way to kill him along with his siblings was the white oak stake Mikael was carrying so what happened to him? Finn was never really close to his siblings but Mikael never expected them to kill him. Or perhaps his children had become more savage over the centuries. Mikael grabbed the dagger in Finn's chest and ripped it out. He examined it but saw it was nothing more than a silver dagger. How it was capable of killing one of his children, Mikael couldn't say. Perhaps enchanted with magic of some sort.

Mikael would be sure to inspect it more thoroughly later, for the moment his more immediate concern was what to do with his son's body. Finn may have a disappointment but he was still Mikael's own flesh and blood. His body should at least be cremated. Why his own siblings didn't do it already was baffling. Why carry around a rotting corpse? Mikael picked up the body and carried it towards a nearby canoe. He would set the small boat aflame with the corpse and shove it out to sea. It was the same way Mikael's parents were both sent to the next life after each of their deaths. He truthfully didn't feel sorrow at his son's death. He already lost so much after Freya, Henrik, and Esther's deaths that he no longer felt anything anymore.

He set the body down and was about to find a torch until he noticed something. The stab wound in Finn's chest was slowly starting to heal itself. That wasn't possible unless he wasn't truly dead. Maybe this dagger didn't actually kill him but put him near death. That would certainly make more sense and explain why the dagger was left in him. Otherwise he would heal and wake up. Of course that didn't answer why his own family would do this to Finn? Mikael decided to wait until his son woke up and ask him. He picked up Finn and carried him to a nearby tavern and compelled the owner to give him a room.

Mikael carried his son upstairs to an empty room and dumped him down on a bed. He then pulled up a chair and sat down. Mikael never liked waiting but if there's one thing he's learned in his centuries long lifespan, it was the importance of patience. After a few minutes, Finn suddenly gasped and shot up. He threw his arms up as if to protect himself from whatever happened before he was stabbed. Confused, Finn glanced around and nearly screamed when he saw his father.

"Hello son," Mikael greeted him. Finn fell off the bed and backed up to the opposite wall, terrified. "We have a lot to discuss."


	3. Crusade-1191

**Acre, Israel-1191 AD**

Blood splayed over Finn's armor as he cleaved through another body. With the strength of a vampire, his sword cut through armor, bone, and flesh in one swing. The Saracens fell before him one after another. Finn had nothing against them and he had no loyalty to the Crusaders he was a part of. It was all part of a means to an end. Beside him, Father slashed through three men's torso in a single swipe. He roared triumphantly, letting the blood rush of battle take over. It took every ounce of mental strength Finn had to keep himself under control with all the chaos and death around. Seeing all the blood made him hungry and volatile but he couldn't give into his impulses. Otherwise he was no better than his wretched siblings.

Klaus, Elijah, Kol, and Rebekah had barricaded themselves inside Acre, a major city in the holy lands. It had originally been besieged by a group of Crusaders led by King Guy de Lusignan. Once the man ruled over the Kingdom of Jerusalem, now he was a king without a kingdom. King Saladin of Egypt and Syria defeated Guy in battle and took most of Guy's kingdom afterwards, including the prized city of Jerusalem. Guy managed to rally supporters and tried to retake some of his kingdom starting at Acre. The fighting between his army and Saladin's was fierce with heavy losses on both sides. Then King Richard of England and King Philip Augustus of France arrived with a massive crusader army and now the tides were turned.

Finn had traveled alongside his father once they heard rumors of men who drank other men's blood in the contested lands. They had posed as simple merchants journeying through various cities and villages as they gathered information. Then a breakthrough came once they manage to catch a newly turned vampire. After disarming the creature by ripping his limbs off, Mikael compelled the wretch to reveal who turned him. The vampire who turned the man did it because he thought it would be fun. That had to be Kol. Once again the prankster's vanity was his own undoing and that of his siblings.

Eight years ago, Finn couldn't have imagined that he would be standing where he was now. After Mikael had awakened him and explained what was going on, Finn couldn't believe he didn't realize it sooner. Klaus murdered their mother. That savage bastard was nothing but a blight upon everyone and everything around him. He destroyed the lives of his own family, killing anyone they befriended if he considered them to be distractions. He did the same thing with Sage. Finn was going to rip his half-brother's heart out, let him regenerate, then rip it out again a hundred more times. He was going to make Klaus understand the pain he felt the moment Sage was taken from him.

When Finn was a child, Mikael had been a harsh combat trainer. Even at age five he would put his firstborn son through arduous training exercises but now as an adult vampire, Father's training was more like torture. When Finn agreed to join his father to hunt down and kill Klaus, Mikael told his son that he needed to be prepared. So that same day, Mikael brutally began training him how to fight. Finn had hated violence ever since he was a boy before but he wasn't a boy anymore. Mikael broke countless bones throughout his son's body during their sessions and sometimes didn't even allow them to heal before he would start another. But in the end it worked. For the first time in the centuries he lived, Finn wasn't just able to fight like his father but now didn't even hesitate to use violence to achieve their goal of killing Klaus.

Mikael also taught him how to go extended periods without blood. He starved his son, forcing him to endure and control his blood thirst for days and later weeks. All the while forcing him to train and hunt. The torture paid off as Finn was now able to go weeks without a drop of blood and still be at full strength. And when he did feed, it was on other vampires. Mikael told him the reason why he only fed on their own kind was for two reasons. Vampire blood, while revolting, was more sustaining then human blood and every time he drained a vampire, he imagined each one he killed was Klaus. It gave him pleasure in a way nothing else could. Finn soon understood the pleasure after killing his first vampire. They were nothing but parasitic monsters that needed to be eradicated. Finn hated the fact that he was one of their kind but he needed to live long enough to kill his half-brother and avenge Sage. Nothing else mattered.

Finn cut through another soldier and continued into the city. Earlier in the day, Crusader forces had been to punch a hole in the city walls using siege weapons. The Saracens managed to hold off the invaders at the breach but Mikael and Finn used the chaos to slip past the defenders and made their way towards the main citadel. It was the most heavily fortified building in the city and the most likely hiding spot for Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol.

A man on horseback came charging with a spear down the street. Finn managed to sidestep his charge and took a single slash right through the horse, cleaving all its legs off. The horse cried in pain at it dropped to the ground and its rider came crashing down with it. Finn didn't bother using his sword to finish his attacker. He lifted up his foot and brought it crashing down on the man's helmet, crushing it and the skull underneath. It was only after this he realized what he had done. The horse was bleeding profusely, crying out in pain. Finn couldn't believe he did such a thing. Killing vampires and even humans who attacked him were one thing but this poor creature was innocent. Yet he didn't even hesitate harming it to kill its rider.

Finn knelt down beside the animal and whispered, "I'm sorry."

He grabbed the horse's head and twisted, snapping its neck. The animal went silent as the life faded from its eyes. At least it was no longer in pain but Finn couldn't help but feel ashamed. He allowed his bloodlust to control him and acted more like his damned siblings.

"Finn move!" Mikael shouted as he grabbed his son by the arm and forcibly hauled him alongside. "Don't get soft on me now boy. It's just a damn animal. You can cry all you want once the bastard is dead."

Finn forced himself to think of Sage's beautiful face and that horrified look on her face as Klaus ripped her heart out, killing her. That thought reignited the fury inside him. They rushed up the street, knocking and slashing aside any soldier that tried to attack them. As they got closer to the Citadel, Finn began to notice more and more bodies that neither he nor Father had engaged. What's more was that they were starting to rot meaning they had been dead for more than

Something else was happening here. Mikael leaned down beside one of the corpses and examined the neck. "Bite marks," he stated.

"What does Niklaus hope to gain by killing his own servants?" wondered Finn.

"He didn't kill them," remarked Mikael.

"Then who did?" asked Finn. A scream caught both of their attentions. A man stumbled out of a nearby house with blood dripping from his neck. A woman with blood dripping from her lips tried to follow him outside but screamed as the sun touched her skin. The man managed to stumble only a few more steps before dropping to the ground, the loss of blood taking its toll.

"Vampires," Mikael growled. "No doubt the work of your siblings. Creating these monstrosities to slow us down."

"They don't have daylight rings. We should ignore them for now and find Klaus," Finn said.

"Well not one of them," remarked Mikael. He rushed forward towards the doorway and grabbed the newly turned vampire, sending her flying outside. She screamed in pain as the sunlight burned away her skin then set her ablaze. Finn felt nothing for it as the creature slowly and painfully turned to ash.

"I suspect they'll be more waiting for us at the castle," Mikael commented.

His words couldn't have been more accurate the second they stepped inside the fortress. The entire castle was filled with recently turned vampires, no doubt Klaus and the other's last ditch desperate attempt to slow down their pursuers. Finn and Mikael tore through the abominations as easily as they tore through the humans that defended the city. Heads and limbs were severed and shattered in their wake as they pressed deeper into the castle. Nothing survived that got in their way whether it was vampire or human. The two split up to check the different levels but before they did, Mikael made it clear that the white oak stake would remain in his possession. He would have the privilege of killing Klaus himself.

Finn didn't have a choice in the matter and used his anger over it to fuel him into clearing out the lower levels while Mikael attacked the upper levels. More vampires and compelled humans awaited him but Finn cut through them as easily as cutting through paper. He must have killed more than a hundred of them before he finished his search. No sign of any of his siblings. Finn made his way to the upper levels and found Mikael gorging himself on a group of recently turned vampires.

"They're not here," said Finn.

"I know," whispered Mikael as he finished sucking down the blood from the last vampire.

"They could have run anywhere. Further east to Kurdistan or Azerbaijan or maybe north to the Seljuks or Constantinople," Finn spoke.

Mikael ignored him as he crushed the head of the vampire he was feeding on with his bare hands, sending red splatters everywhere. He was lost in that blood lust of his again. When Mikael was in a state of rage, no one was safe around him not even his own son. Finn heard about Berserkers when he was a child, warriors that went into a trance-like fury but he always thought they were just stories. That was until he saw the first time Father went into this rage while killing their first group of vampires together.

Mikael turned his head and glared at Finn with bloodshot eyes, a look of fury no one on this Earth could possibly match. Finn was worried he might attack him but Father managed to calm himself, his fangs retracting and red eyes clearing. "We'll split up. Head north to Constantinople. Compel scouts to spread across Europe to find them. I'll head south to Cairo, compel scouts into Islamic lands," Mikael said.

Finn simply nodded and walked away. He didn't enjoy his Father's company so it didn't bother him that they were splitting up. If anything Finn grew more frightened of him. Father was becoming more and more violent as time went on and Finn was worried that someday he might turn on even him. He felt safer being apart. The two had a system in place should they become separated. They would compel messengers to leave letters at drop points which other compel individuals would pass along a network to Mikael and Finn. Now it was time to expand that network into the hundreds and just maybe find the bastard who ended Sage's life.


	4. Home-1509

**Tuscany, Italy-1509**

"Finn," a voice whispered him out of his slumber. Dreams were the most precious thing Finn had in his life. They allowed him to go back to happier times with Freya, to dance once more with an alive and well Sage, to embrace his mother and say he loved her, to see Father as the happy and loving man he once was. But the dreams would always end and he would awaken back to this eternal nightmare of existence. One where he lived as a monster and killed other monsters. It was only in his sleep that he was able to escape the hellish reality.

Finn opened his eyes to see Rodrigo in his room holding a lite candle for light. Finn could tell the old man was concerned about something. The two had met after a vampire tried to kill the man at his farm but Finn managed to track the monster down in time to stop it. Rodrigo had offered to let him sleep the night inside his farm. It was far from the nearest town and Finn preferred to sleep in a bed. Rodrigo was a poor farmer who lost his wife in child-birth to a stillborn and had no other family. He could barely make enough to make ends meet so Finn decided to stay and help. That was weeks ago and yet the Original vampire hadn't left. Planting beans and raising chickens was strangely peaceful. After so much bloodshed, Finn didn't want to leave.

For centuries he had wondered across Europe, scouring every corner for any clue regarding his siblings. All the while Finn hunted and dinned on vampires who seemed to only grow in number over the years. Perhaps Klaus and the others made them to distract Father and their elder brother on their hunt. Mikael continued his pursuit as passionately as ever but Finn had grown weary of the chase. He had spent the past several hundred years looking for them and what did it all mean in the end? Even if they did kill Klaus, it wouldn't bring Sage or Mother back.

Finn and Mikael had stayed in touch via a network of compelled messengers but their contact had decreased over time. Mikael seemed ready to keep hunting forever but Finn had grown tired. He didn't want to spend the rest of eternity obsessing over Klaus. The bastard deserved to die but there hadn't been a sighting of him in years. It was time to move on. Finn had done so much such as fighting the Mongol Horde that invaded Poland, used his blood to cure important artists and philosophers along with hundreds of other people during the Black Plague, and was even personally requested by Pope Celestine V in purging members of the Papacy who were actually vampires.

But Finn was tired of the fighting and death. Just once he would like to settle down and find some measure of peace and happiness in this life. That was why he had remained on Rodrigo's farm for so long. For the first time in centuries, Finn wasn't driven by rage into an endless hunt for revenge. Instead he felt calm and at peace. He knew it couldn't last forever. Eventually his blood thirst would return. The vampire he drank from previously would only hold him over for a little while longer but he wanted to enjoy the peace while he could.

"What's wrong?" Finn asked as he rose from his bed. He glanced out his window to see nothing but darkness with no sign of the sunrise.

"There are two travelers at the door. They pleaded to be let inside," Rodrigo explained.

"Did either of them attempt to force their way in?" asked Finn.

"No," answered Rodrigo. Finn understood what he was implying. Two mysterious travelers wanting to come inside late at night and desperate to get in but didn't attempt to do. Rodrigo feared the two strangers were vampires. While the old man knew of Finn's true nature, Rodrigo had grown to accept him for who he was especially after Finn saved his life from another vampire. However that didn't mean he was willing to trust any one of those other beasts and for good reason.

Finn nodded and lifted up his bed, silently pulling out the broadsword he had hidden underneath it. He'd used this weapon to kill dozens of vampires since it came into his possession and now it was about to claim even more. The two headed to the front door and though closed, Finn could hear the two strangers outside conversing.

"What if they find us?" a man in an English accent spoke nervously.

"We can't worry about that now. Dawn cannot be far off and this is the first place we've seen in hours," a woman in an English accent replied. Sounds like they were worried about the sunrise which told Finn everything he needed to know. They were vampires and he would deal with them accordingly. He wasn't sure who they were so afraid of but once they were subdued, he could make them talk.

Finn gave Rodrigo a nod who then opened the door, holding his candle up to illuminate their guests. Outside a young man with scruffy brown hair, a beard, and blue eyes waited anxiously with a woman. She was quite lovely with her long brown hair and deep green eyes. Still she wouldn't be the first beautiful vampire that Finn had ended.

"Who are you?" demanded Finn. Their eyes immediately froze on the sword he was clenching at his side. The sight of the weapon at least forced them to be cautious. An Original didn't have to fear decapitation but a regular vampire did.

"Please sir. We were traveling the road when we were attacked by brigands. We barely managed to escape but we lost all our valuables and all we have left is our horses. Could we please have shelter for the night?" asked the woman. Finn glanced over her shoulder to see they were at least telling the truth about the horses, having tied them to a nearby tree.

"Why were you traveling this late at night?" asked Rodrigo.

"We were delivering important items to the Countess of Florence and were behind schedule. We rode through the night hoping to make good time," the man answered. Their responses came too quickly as if they were rehearsed.

"That's very tragic but I'm afraid my Father and I don't have any more beds to share," Finn spoke. Rodrigo went along with the act and nodded.

"We don't need a bed. Just shelter for the night," the woman assured him.

"We'll leave once we've rested," the man spoke up.

Finn glanced at Rodrigo and nodded. "Please come in," the human spoke.

The two strangers stepped inside and both breathed a sigh of relief. Finn intentionally kept himself between their guests and Rodrigo. "Please sit," Finn said, pointing to the chairs in the small dining room nearby.

"We don't have much but I can at least get you something to drink," Rodrigo said.

"Thank you," nodded the woman.

The two guests took their seats along with Finn while Rodrigo headed towards the front door. "I'll take your horses into the barn and bring in some fresh water," he said.

Finn was glad the human managed to find some excuse to put himself out of harm's way. Now he could enjoy this moment and let the beast inside of him out to play. He set his broadsword on the table, starling the guests slightly then they started to breathe a sigh of relief. They probably thought they could grab the weapon before Finn could even blink. They were going to be in for a surprise.

"Apologies for the sword but one can't be too careful," Finn explained himself.

"No need to apologize," the woman smiled. Finn found it curious that he found that smile incredibly attractive and then realized why. She reminded him of Sage. Sure the two weren't exactly twins compared to one another but the similarities were there. It was actually the first time Finn could remember in a long time that anyone could remind him of his past love. The memories of centuries of anger and bloodlust had overtaken the small portion of happy memories he had in his mind. Vampires were immortal but Finn worried that his memories may not be. So far his memories were intact but would it stay that way? Will a day come that he wouldn't remember the faces of Sage, Freya, or Mother?

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced. My name is Finn and my father is Rodrigo," Finn introduced himself.

"Rose-Marie and this is my colleague Trevor," the woman replied.

"Your accents. You are from England yes?" asked Finn.

"Yes. We grew up in St. Austell in Cornwall," Trevor said. Rose threw him a look, letting him know he was giving too much away.

"Nice to meet fellow travelers," smiled Finn. "I tried my hand at gaining fortune and ended up here. Your luck is clearly better than mine."

"Well tonight proves otherwise," uttered Rose.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. The local condottiero had hunted most of those bandits down over the past few months," Finn replied.

"Well that doesn't get our possessions back," remarked Trevor.

Finn glared at him, irritated the other vampire opened his mouth. Rose-Marie was soft-spoken and seemed to have a gentle quality to her. Finn knew it was all a ruse but at least she could put on a better performance than her friend. Trevor came off too nervous, his fingers slightly shaking and it couldn't be from Finn. They had no idea what he was.

"You seem troubled my friend. Relax, the bandits are long gone by now," Finn said.

"Sorry. It just seemed almost like a dream. You hear stories about it but experiencing it is another matter," Trevor tried to laugh it off.

"Well we don't have much to eat but if you're hungry I'm sure we can get you two something," Finn stated.

"Yes please," nodded Rose.

"What do you prefer? Men or women?" Finn asked. The two guests frowned, confused. "Do you prefer them old or young? Do you feel less guilty for taking the lives of the sick and elderly or do you enjoy taking both blood and youth?"

Rose and Trevor instantly realized what he was going on. He was accusing them of being vampires and now Finn was done playing. Like when a cat that catches a mouse and plays with it before the kill. The two vampires stood up, Trevor reaching for the sword but Finn was faster. He placed his hands under the table and lifted it up into the air, flipping over and charging into both of his opponents with it. Rose and Trevor were both forced backwards into a wall with Finn using his heightened strength and the table to pin them against it.

"Stop fighting!" Finn shouted, looking them in the eyes as he forced his will upon them. Instantly the two ceased struggling. They were both bewildered and horrified as their own bodies refused to obey them.

"Now sit back down," Finn ordered, setting the table back down on the floor. The two walked over their knocked over chairs and set them right before sitting down.

"Oh god. You're an Original," gasped a trembling Rose. Trevor shared her terror as his hands shook again, even more so then before. Finn calmly walked over to his sword lying on the ground and picked it up. He then headed back to his chair and set it right before sitting down. Neither of his victims said anything, perhaps knowing that it really didn't matter what they said.

"Someone was chasing you and it wasn't bandits. Tell me the truth. Who was it?" asked Finn.

"Vampires. They're under orders from Klaus to kill us," said Rose.

Finn leaped out of his seat. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. This was the first time he'd heard anything about Klaus in centuries. The trail was warm again and he might finally have a chance to find that bastard. Still he had to be sure this wasn't a false lead. "Niklaus? Do you know him?"

"We've met him about twenty years in Yorkshire," Rose spoke.

Finn's eyes narrowed. "How can you be so certain he was who he claimed to be?"

"Because he was stronger than everyone else and he could compel even other vampires. So could some of his other followers like Elijah and Rebekah," answered Rose. That confirmed it. This wasn't another one of his siblings compelling other vampires to impersonate the Mikaelson family. This had to be them but Finn still had other questions that needed answering.

"I don't understand. You're an Original like Klaus. Aren't you in league with him? Why would you need to know his whereabouts?" asked a confused Rose.

"Klaus and I are nothing alike!" Finn snapped. The sheer idea of being compared to that monster infuriated him. Rose instantly regretted her question and lowered her trembling head.

"Why is he after you?" Finn demanded.

"Trever helped a woman named Katerina Petrova escape from him. I tried to make things right and take her back but she turned herself into a vampire and escaped. The two of us have been on the run ever since," Rose shivered.

"Who is this woman and what is she to Klaus?" Finn pondered.

"She's a doppelganger…or at least she was," Trevor answered.

Now things were starting to make sense. The blood of the doppelganger Tatia was used to create the spell that Mother not only turned her children into beasts but also another spell that suppressed Klaus's werewolf side. He would need the blood of a doppelganger to break it but if this Katherine had become a vampire then she was useless. No wonder Klaus wanted these two fugitives dead.

"One last question. Do you know if Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah are still in Yorkshire?" Finn asked.

"We don't know. Maybe," Rose shrugged. Trevor was about as uncertain as she was.

They didn't know anything else of interest to Finn so now it was time to end this. He stood up and stepped towards them. Finn grabbed Rose's arm and unrolled the sleeve covering her wrist. "What are you doing?" asked Rose.

"I need to feed and the two of you will do nicely," Finn answered. He extended his fangs and bite down on Rose's wrist. She groaned in pain as Finn began sucking blood from her veins.

"Wait! Stop!" pleaded Trevor.

"Shut up," Finn compelled him. Instantly the other vampire closed his mouth. He got back to work on Rose, being both revolted by the taste of blood in his mouth and yet relishing in it.

"What kind of a vampire drinks vampire blood?" whispered Rose.

Finn released her arm, gulping down the blood in his mouth. "A hunter," he answered.

He had his fill but he wouldn't indulge himself like one of his monstrous siblings. Finn would only take what he needed and stop. Now that he had what he needed, it was time to finish this. He lifted up his sword, ready to take off both vampires' heads with a single swipe of his sword.

"Wait you don't have to do this," pleaded Rose.

Finn scoffed, "And why I shouldn't I? Vampires are nothing but bloodthirsty monsters that kill and destroy the lives of everyone around them. Just admit it, you enjoy killing any human you have at your mercy your filthy savage!"

"No I don't!" Rose shouted back. The answer froze Finn in place. How many times had he asked that question? For centuries it was always the same. Vampires reveled in their barbarism, enjoying every sadistic moment they took a life. Yet this was the first time the answer was different. A vampire who hated killing humans? Finn would have thought that she was lying but he had compelled her not to lie to him.

"You're telling me you don't enjoy hurting people. Draining them of blood?" Finn asked skeptically.

"No. I always hated needing to drink blood. It's true I've hurt people in the past but I couldn't control myself. If I could go back and stop myself, I would," admitted Rose.

Finn then shook his head. "I'm sure you hate what you are but the fact is you'd gladly endure all of that to keep your immortality. Even at other people's expense," he scoffed.

"No," whispered Rose. "I don't want to die but I don't want to live like this for the rest of eternity. Especially if it means taking other people's lives to do it."

"Then why go on? Why continue to live?" asked Finn.

"Because maybe one day I can be human again," answered Rose.

Finn stood there dumbfounded. It was like listening to someone else speak your own innermost thoughts as their own. From the first time Finn helped his father hunt down another vampire to even just a few weeks ago, all vampires were the same. Mindless savages who only care about one thing and that was to kill. Not a single one of them wanted to ever go back to being human. Even Mikael never once stated that he wanted to return to what he once was. Finn believed that he was the only one who missed being human until today.

A scream outside broke his thought. Finn could recognize it from the last time he killed a vampire. "Rodrigo!" he shouted as he rushed outside.

A circle of seven strangers was assembled outside the entrance of the barn. Finn didn't know who they were but he knew they weren't friendly. They turned to face him and spread out, allowing Finn to finally see Rodrigo. The old man was lying on the ground with a snapped neck with a large man with vamps standing over top of him. Rose and Trevor's vampire pursuers must have tracked them here. Finn was too late, Rodrigo was already dead. Killed while he wasted his time inside with those other vampires.

"What have we here boys? Another bloodsucker?" the apparent leader said. "There wouldn't happen to have two others with you in there?"

The vampires started to surround him, ready to attack regardless of whether he cooperated or not. But Finn didn't care anymore. All he could see was Rodrigo's dead face joining the list of other dead faces in his life. Sage, Mother, Freya, and now Rodrigo.

Finn's fangs extended as his eyes turned bloodshot, the veins darkening on his face. Finn let loose a roar of pure rage as he rushed headlong into the crowd.

* * *

"Can you move?" asked Rose. Trevor shook his head, unable to speak after Finn compelled him to be quiet. She had never felt so helpless in her life. It wasn't bad enough they were being chased by pair of vampire thugs wanting to please Klaus by killing Rose and Trevor. Now they were being held captive by an Original who fed on vampires the same way they fed on humans. As if things weren't bad enough, Rose overhead the screams outside and knew the hunters had found them. They would kill the owner and then move inside to deal with them. Finn rushed outside but it sounded like it was too late. One of the hunters said some words and then the Original screamed with an animal-like fury that Rose had never heard coming from a vampire.

What followed absolutely terrified her as the roar was soon followed by screams of pain and terror. Not a single one of them was coming from Finn. Rose could hear blood splatter and bones breaking. Soon the sounds of the brawl diminished and then silence followed. There was nothing either Trevor or her could do except wait for the victor to enter the house.

They got their answer on who won as Finn stepped inside from the back door carrying Rodrigo, the man he claimed was his father. The vampire was covered in blood and since the old man only had a broken neck, it was obvious it belonged to the hunters. Rose wasn't sure if they were all dead but highly doubted any survivors were sticking around for another fight with anyone. The Original walked into the dining room and set Rodrigo on the table.

"What happened?" asked Rose. He ignored her, his eyes fixated on the Rodrigo's body. Rose could tell he was devastated. The human must have meant something to him for an Original centuries old to suffer from his passing.

"Your pursuers," Finn whispered. Rose could feel a lump growing in throat. Whatever goodwill she thought she managed to build with him in the past few minutes was gone. The Original would blame his two captives for the death of his friend and if Rose didn't say something, he would kill them.

"We thought we lost them. We didn't mean to bring them here," Rose pleaded.

"But you did!" shouted Finn.

"I didn't kill him and I wouldn't have killed him even if the others haven't found us," Rose stated firmly.

"You killed him!" Finn snapped, grabbing Rose by the neck.

"And how many people have you killed?!" she shouted back. The words were more out of desperation then defiance. Judging from the murderous look on his face, Finn probably would have killed Rose had she not said anything.

"Every vampire kills someone. For me it was just after my transition. I didn't understand what was happening to me and I couldn't control myself. I killed my own father," Rose said. This was something she never even told Trevor. Rose had known him since they were children but never once told him that. Trevor always assumed it had been Mary, the vampire who turned Rose and went on a killing spree in their village.

Trevor stared her with bewildered eyes while Finn's face was unreadable. "Ever since then I promised I would never lose control ever again. It hasn't been easy but I've never murdered anyone since. There have been people I couldn't save but I never took the life of an innocent human. Can you say the same?" Rose challenged her captor.

Finn's finger slowly released their grip on her neck. He stood back and contemplated what to do next. "Get up," he ordered.

Unable to resist his orders, Rose slowly got to her feet. She spoke her piece but she was certain that Finn was still going to kill her. At least it was all over. No more worrying about looking over her shoulder and sleeping with one eye open. Rose had spent so many years on the run that she barely had anytime to actually try and make a life for herself.

Rose turned to Trevor and said, "I'm sorry."

She turned her attention back to the Original. "If you're going to kill me fine but let Trevor go," Rose said. She knew it was pointless but she had to ask it. Trevor had been her friend since she was a child. She had to at least try to spare him from her fate.

"From this day forward you will not kill any human other than to protect yourself or another," Finn compelled her. Rose could feel the compulsion taking effect but she didn't understand. Why would he wasting such a thing on someone he's going to kill?

Finn turned to Trevor and said, "And neither will you." Rose couldn't believe it. Was he letting them go?

"Stand up. You may speak again," Finn ordered.

Trevor got to his feet. "Thank you," he whispered. He was just as surprised as Rose was.

Finn turned back to Rodrigo. "It'll be dawn soon. Take shelter in the barn and wait until nightfall. You'll find your horses there," he said.

"Why can't we stay in here?" protested Trevor.

Finn spun around and glared at him, eyes filled with rage. "Because I can't promise you'll survive if you do," he warned.

Rose and Trevor were startled by the Original's anger but Rose supposed it was already inside after his friend's death. Trevor just had the misfortune of saying the wrong words to nearly unleashing it upon himself. "Let's go Trevor," Rose urged.

He nodded nervously and the two headed towards the back door. Rose stopped and turned around. "I'm sorry about your friend," she said.

"I was a fool," Finn said. "I stayed here hoping to I could pretend to be human again. But it was just the dream of a child. I'm just an animal and I always will be,"

"For the real difference between humans and other animals is that humans alone have perception of good and evil, just and unjust," Rose quoted.

Finn turned to her, surprised by her words. "Aristotle?" he asked.

Rose nodded, "Anyone who can show mercy is no monster or animal."

Finn, for the first time since Rose had seen him, had a slight smile on his face. He turned back to Rodrigo's body.

"Rose we should go," Trevor whispered. Rose nodded and followed him out to the barn. She wasn't sure what happened to Finn to make him hate vampires so much which is probably made he hates himself so terribly. But she hoped for his sake that maybe he finds the peace he craves so much because if he could then maybe Rose could as well.


	5. Vengeance-1702

**Cadiz, Spain-1702 AD**

War had broken out again in Europe. Finn wasn't sure why, he stopped remembering the endless excuses European kings seemed to find to justify taking each other's lands and killing their enemies' subjects. England and Portugal were at war with Spain and France. Just another conflict on this god-forsaken continent but then again where could Finn go where such wars didn't exist? Colonists and the local natives fought each within the New World, conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Tsardom of Russia seemed inevitable, Barbary Corsairs operating on the coasts of North Africa raided European towns and villages to plunder loot and take slaves. Apparently nowhere in the world was safe from bloodshed.

A fleet under the command of Admiral George Rooke was ordered to take the port city of Cadiz. Capturing such a vital location would allow the English-Dutch Alliance to control the Straits of Gibraltar and by extension have a strategic grip on the only natural passage between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. This would not only severe major trade routes for the Spanish and French but also the city could be used a base for the English and Dutch to dominate the Mediterranean. The battle would be fierce. The city was heavily fortified with thousands of soldiers along with militia volunteers. Admiral Rooke had been arguing with his advisors for the past several days on how to take the city. Taking it however was not Finn's mission.

A few weeks ago, Finn had been spending time at Hampton Court Palace in London. He had heard rumors of people who could control the minds of others which sounded like compulsion which meant vampires. Finn passed himself off as a nobleman and blended in the background as the politics of the wealthy and powerful played out all around him. It reminded him why he felt more at home among the lower classes. After two weeks with not even a sign of anyone with bite marks on them, Finn began to believe he was chasing fairytales.

Then a new guest arrived at court. It was none other than Father. After nearly a century with no contact, Finn had given up every seeing the man again but Mikael had been tracking him down to tell him the good news. He finally had found Niklaus. Two centuries ago after Finn's talk with Rose-Marie, he sent news to Father that the bastard might be in England. But their family was long gone by the time they arrived and once again the trail went cold until now. Mikael had heard rumors of a rash of deaths in the coastal city of Cadiz and that his spies confirmed that Niklaus, Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol were all there.

Finn had thought he would have grown tired of the hunt and yet the second he heard Sage's killer was found, his blood boiled. Even nearly five hundred years later, his love's murder was something he could never get over. Finn wanted to move on but just couldn't. Maybe now he will after he'll see Klaus die screaming after getting stabbed in the heart with a white oak stake.

Mikael had grown tired of listening to the Admiral and his subordinates argue over tactics and finally compelled the man to launch an attack. A cruel action that would kill thousands but it was necessary. Father wasn't completely without mercy, allowing Rooke time to complete an actual battle plan and to withdraw when it was clear defeat was inevitable. In the end whether Rooke took the city or not was irrelevant. The battle itself was a distraction to divert the majority of Klaus's guards away, allowing Mikael and Finn to enter the city and kill the bastard.

Admiral Rooke decided to launch a campaign of conquest that started by blockading the bay it was situated next to then launching attacks on nearby cities and forts to cut off Cardiz from the rest of Spain. The local Spanish general had sent the majority of his troops to prevent Rooke from taking any more territory, leading Cardiz itself exposed for Mikael and Finn to attack. The two Originals disembarked from the flagship HMS Neptune on a row boat and went ashore ahead of the main attack. They took up positions outside of the city and waited as more troops left the city to join battles elsewhere.

"Father," Finn spoke up, catching Mikael's attention. "Once this is over, when the bastard is finally dead, what then?"

Mikael frowned, "What do you mean?"

"What will you do once Niklaus is dead?" asked Finn.

Mikael was silent and even seemed confused. It was as if this was the first time he ever contemplated that question. "Worry about the present son before worrying about the future," he finally said.

Finn was disappointed. Father didn't give him an answer but simply said something to avoid it. He had no idea what he was going to do once that hybrid was dead. Did he have any plans for afterwards? They were immortal and would live forever. Would Mikael deal with the rest of his children or leave them alone? Would he settle down and move on from Mother by finding happiness with someone else? For almost seven hundred years, Mikael had cared only about killing Niklaus and nothing else.

Finn on the other hand had tried to move on. From Mother, Sage, and his family. He tried to settle down more than once but the lust for revenge was as ingrained into his nature as his blood lust. He couldn't have any relationship, home, or new family because his mind wouldn't let go of avenging Sage's death. Finally Finn decided he needed to become like Father if only for his sanity's sake. He would hunt down Niklaus but unlike Mikael, Finn did have plans on what he would do once this hunt was over. He'd settle down, find love, make friends, and create a home for himself. Finn would finally be able to move on.

"They're closing the gates. Let's go," ordered Mikael. They sped off towards the front gates, bypassing the guards as nothing more than sudden blurs that everyone seemed to just shrug off as just tricks of the eye. The two vampires moved quietly through the city, sticking in the alleys. They found two drunkards and compelled to tell them where Don Franciso del Castillo, the Spanish General in command of the city, was staying. Castillo at the moment was staying at the nearby Castle of Santa Catalina to command the defense of the city which allowed Klaus to take over the general's personal residence at the center of the city to be his own personal palace.

Finn supposed it only made sense that the bastard would take up the most lavishing house in the entire city. Had Klaus and the others simply remained disguised as commoners, Mikael and Finn would probably have never found them. But they continue their grandiose lifestyle wherever they go. Finn remembered when he was with them the first time they stepped foot inside the castle of Count de Martel impersonating visiting nobles. Ever since then his siblings couldn't let go of the lifestyle of living like kings. It would be their undoing.

When Mikael and Finn arrived at the large manor, neither were surprised to hear the sound of music and debauchery taking place within its walls. A war was going on outside the city and yet Niklaus and the others feel the need to throw a party. "How many vampires are with them?" asked Finn.

"About five according to my sources. Most of them by Kol," answered Mikael.

"Why does that not surprise me?" muttered Finn.

"If Don Castillo owns this establishment then neither of us can enter," Mikael pointed out. A vampire needs to be invited to enter a home. Some establishments like shops and taverns that were open to the public seemed to be exceptions but the large house the rest of Finn's family was occupying wasn't any of those.

"We'll either need to wait for them to leave or draw them out," Finn stated.

"Leave that to me. Wait at the other entrance and strike down any vampire that comes running out. Deal with Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol as you see fit but leave Niklaus to me," ordered Mikael. Finn didn't have a chance to ask what he was planning before Father dashed off out of sight. Not seeing any other option, he headed to the other side of the building and waited in a nearby alley.

Finn counted the minutes as they ticked by, his hand clenched on his brand new sword. A gift from Father to use in the coming fight, Mikael claimed that it was forged by the best blacksmith in England. It felt lite but was well-balanced and incredibly sharp. A simple swipe was that was needed to decapitate a vampire. That wouldn't work on any of Finn's siblings but a slice across the neck would put them down temporarily. But the point of the mission wasn't to kill all of them, just one.

Finn could hear a commotion back at the front entrance and glanced down the street to see a wagon with no horses and filled with barrels being pushed towards the Castillo residence. Some people nearby were questioning what was going on when suddenly the wagon lite on fire. Finn instantly took cover, realizing his Father's plan. The barrels filled with explosives ignited and exploded, blowing the front portion of the building into pieces. People screamed and horses panicked as the fire began to spread outwards quickly.

Finn shouldn't have been surprised by his Father's callous actions. All he cared about was killing Niklaus, regardless of the cost in innocent lives. It disgusted Finn but he was willing to endure such atrocities if it meant killing his half-brother. He wasn't capable of doing it himself, the rest of his family would overwhelm him and Mikael was the only person with a white oak stake. Once this was over, Finn would leave his family behind forever. That included his Father as well.

The explosion had the desired effect as people started rushing out of the back entrance. Finn scanned the faces of the fleeing victims looking for Niklaus, Elijah, Rebekah, or Kol. His hand gripped his sword as the crowd started diminishing until finally no one else emerged from the burning building. Finn didn't understand. He didn't see a single one of his siblings. He scanned the crowd again but there was still no sign of them.

"Where are they?" demanded Mikael as he approached Finn. His eldest son continued to look through the growing crowd but didn't see them.

"They're not here," replied Finn.

"That can't be. They have to be here!" snapped Mikael.

"Well they're not!" shot back Finn. That's when he saw the face. One that had burned into Finn's head since childhood. The first sibling born after Freya was taken from their family. The so called noble one of the family that was called Elijah. Finn's little brother was mounted on a horse and dressed as a military officer. Judging from his uniform, it appeared he had made himself a Colonel in the Spanish Army. Finn didn't care if his brother wasn't the man who killed Sage. Elijah allowed Finn to remain in a box for seventy years and kept Sage away from him. If that wasn't bad enough he was still siding with Sage's murderer. After all the terrible things Niklaus had done, Elijah didn't just tolerate them but defended them as well. As far as Finn was concerned, he was just as guilty as Klaus.

Finn's fangs extended as he rushed through the crowd knocking people aside. Before Elijah had a chance to react, Finn grabbed him and pulled his brother off the horse. Elijah fell to the ground caught completely off guard. Finn drew his sword and cut down at least five men who tried to stop him. He didn't know if they were vampires or humans but truthfully Finn didn't care. Nothing was going to get in his way.

Elijah got to his feet and finally saw his attacker. "Finn," he gasped in complete shock.

"Where's Niklaus?!" shouted Finn as he launched his attack. Elijah managed to roll out of the way and draw his own sword. Steel clashed with steel as brother fought brother. Elijah fought like a fencer, finesse and precision being his main attributes. But Finn fought like a man possessed. Within a few moments, he realized that he was stronger now than his younger brother. Before Finn had joined Father, that had been different. But now he was drinking vampire blood instead of animal blood and he had several centuries of fighting experience. Something it seemed Elijah had lacking. Plus Finn was beyond enraged and that anger gave him strength.

"I thought you were dead," Elijah said amid their duel. Finn forced him back down the street, shoving anyone aside who got in his way.

"You mean you wished I was," spat Finn. He kicked Elijah with enough force to send him flying through the air and crashing through a market stall.

"No. We thought Father had killed you," protested Elijah as he got back to his feet. He was clearly starting to see this was a losing fight for him as he backed away from his approaching brother.

"He rescued me from the lot of you. You left me daggered in a box for nearly seventy years and kept me away from the woman I loved out of sheer spite. Then when she had the courage to rescue me, you murdered her and put me back in that box!" screamed Finn.

He chased after Elijah through the streets, his attacks relentless. If Finn couldn't have Niklaus then Elijah would have be the one who suffers his wrath. He skewered several people that tried to get in his way. Finn was so enraged that he didn't even care that if they were intentionally trying to stop him or just accidently getting into his way. Elijah was terrified, never seeing his brother like this. Finn swung his sword around with such force that it severed Elijah's sword in half when he raised it to defend himself.

Finn swung again but Elijah managed to duck out of the way and ran off. Finn roared as he took off after his brother. Elijah raced towards the harbor, possibly to get onboard a ship and escape. Finn never expected his little brother to have become such a coward in the past few centuries. The family's gluttonous ways were starting to catch up with them. Elijah had been so used to fighting vampires or humans far weaker than him that he was unprepared to fight someone greater or equal to his own strength.

Once he reached the docks, Finn lost sight of his brother. He cursed himself for being so close and yet failing again. Perhaps a few insults to his wretched sibling will draw him out. "Elijah! Where are you?! Did spending the past six hundred years with Niklaus, Kol, and Rebekah make you as much as a coward and weakly as they are?!" Finn shouted.

"We mourned you because we thought we had lost you!" Elijah shouted back. His voice was coming from nearby a Spanish Galleon. Finn rushed onto the deck which only had a few hands onboard. Most were probably ashore on assignment.

"Leave!" Finn shouted at everyone, barring his fangs and blood shot eyes. Seeing such a monster onboard their ship, the small crew quickly scrambled towards the dock or just jumped overboard to get away. With them gone, Finn began his search of the ship. He kicked out the door to the captain's cabin and searched the room but found nothing.

"Tell me where Niklaus is and I'll convince Father not to kill Kol and Rebekah!" Finn shouted. That should get a reaction from his brother.

"How could you side with Father Finn? He murdered Mother!" Elijah shouted back. It was coming from below deck. Finn started getting suspicious. This was too easy. Maybe Elijah wasn't a coward but rather luring him into a trap.

"You're as gullible as you are stupid. Niklaus murdered Mother just like he murdered Sage," Finn shouted back as he headed towards the trapdoor to the lower decks. He gripped the wooden hatch and ripped it right off its hinges. He tossed it aside and slowly descended the steps.

"And yet you continue to side with him. As far as I'm concerned, we are no longer family. Rebekah and Kol are no longer my family. And Niklaus...well this is all his fault. If he hadn't been so curious about the werewolves, Henrik wouldn't have followed him and he wouldn't have died. Then Mother wouldn't have turned us all into monsters. I blame him for everything. So tell me where he is or I'll settle with killing you," Finn warned, scouring the gun deck. He didn't hear any heartbeats but he knew Elijah was nearby. Also there was a strange smell of smoke in the air.

"If you are no longer family then I feel no remorse for this," Elijah replied. Finn turned and his eyes widened at what he saw. Elijah had a cannon aimed directly at him and was holding a cigarette. He placed the cigar into the touchhole and the cannon fired before Finn had a chance to react.

* * *

His body felt cold as Finn regained consciousness. Instantly he could feel water inside his nostrils and mouth, his lungs completely flooded. Finn found himself underwater and drowning. He gasped as his muscles sprang into action, forcing himself to the surface. The second Finn's head emerged above the surface, his lungs violently spat out all of its liquid contents. The air was thick with smoke as most of the harbor was on fire. Multiple ships were burning with their crews having long abandoned them.

Finn had no doubts that he would have been dead had he not been an Original. A cannonball to the chest would have killed any normal vampire. He checked over himself and found his shirt torn. The cannonball must have ripped right through his chest along with sending him right through the wooden walls of the ship into the Atlantic. Finn got too obsessed and Elijah took advantage of that. Finn thought he was the hunter and ended up being the prey.

He had no idea how he was going to react to seeing any of his siblings other than Niklaus. The bastard would die a painful death but Finn didn't even consider how he would react to the others. He was furious with them but the anger that exploded inside of him surprised even Finn. But should it? They knew what Niklaus was and all the terrible acts he's committed and yet they still stood by his side. The truth was that Finn could care less whether they lived or died. He tried to be family to them when they were all children but they were selfish even before they were vampires. To think that Freya was taken from their family in exchange for them. The thought disgusted Finn.

He swam ashore to find more of the city in chaos. People and animals fled for their lives as fire raged around them. Finn didn't need to ask who was responsible for all of this. He searched around the city and found his father standing in the city square. Next to him was a spear with a horse's head impaled through it.

"Where is Elijah?" Mikael demanded, his back turned to his son and yet he still knew Finn was coming.

"Escaped. Where is Niklaus?" replied Finn. Father didn't answer at first, still staring at the horse head. Finn couldn't be sure if he was about to launch into a tirade of allowing their prey to escape but he seemed incredibly calm and somewhat smug.

"Fled like the coward he's always been. Though not before I decorated the square with his favorite horse's head," Mikael finally spoke. That would certainly explain Father's victorious gaze as he stared as the impaled animal head.

Finn found it revolting but he always had better control on his emotions then Mikael ever did. Then again who was he to judge? How many people did he kill that tried to stop him from reaching Elijah or simply got in his way? Finn understood one simple reality that vampires were monsters and no matter how hard he tried to suppress his inner nature, he would always fail as long as he continued to hunt Niklaus. Only once Sage's murderer was a burning pile of ashes could Finn finally find the peace he had been seeking.


	6. Road to Perdition-1919

**Atlantic City-New Jersey, 1919**

Music echoed through the room along with choruses of ecstatic cheers and disappointed sighs. The smell of cheap cigar and even cheaper whiskey filled the air. Vice was a booming business in Atlantic City and it attracted all sorts of scum. Some were gamblers wasting away their money on luck of the dice rather than paying for food for their family. Others were of the criminal element, exploiting people's greed for their own profit. But neither of those interested Finn. It was the third and final kind that interested him. The blood-sucking immortal kind.

The 20th century was less than twenty years old and yet it was unlike any that had come before it. Firearms had been invented hundreds of years ago and yet now they could be fired hundreds of rounds per minute. Man had mastered the power of flight and developed machines called airplanes. Gone were the days of small scale warfare and now where the days where multiple continents could become embroiled in a single war. All of Europe along with portions of the Middle East and Asia had just finished the largest conflict in human history. Knowing humanity it wouldn't be the last.

The end of what was called the Great War had produced a boom period in the United States. Jazz and liquor had become the new popular past time in the country. Cars, which had once been only for the wealthy, were now becoming more and commonplace. It seemed like a golden age for the United States but Finn wasn't impressed. These so called great eras always come and go. He's lived through enough of them to know that they never last. He even heard about a movement in this country wanted to ban all forms of alcoholic beverages. They might as well try to ban breathing while they're at it.

Finn had kept himself busy after Klaus and the others escaped his grip at Cadiz. He joined the British Royal Navy and helped to hunt down pirates which included the likes of Charles Vane, Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, and Edward Teach 'aka Blackbeard'. Finn hated pirates and considered them similar to vampires. They preyed upon the innocent for their survival. Brigands would continue to plague the seas for years to come but their threat mostly ended after Finn arrived in the pirate haven of Nassau with Governor Woodes Rogers. After spending a few years enforcing the peace, Finn retired from the Royal Navy.

He moved from city to city, nation to nation, continent to continent scouring the world for vampires to kill and for any sign of his wretched siblings. His hatred for them only seemed to grow over the years. Klaus was Sage's murderer and they sided with him. If that wasn't bad enough, Klaus had killed many people that Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol had befriended or cared about for centuries. Finn was never around to witness it but he heard the stories whenever he investigated the areas they had stayed at. How could they still be at the Klaus's side when he had done nothing but bring misery and pain into their lives? And yet they chose him over their older brother. Finn never did anything to them except remind them of what they were. He only wanted them to try and improve themselves, not insult them. It didn't matter now anyways. Finn would never forgive any of them now.

He stayed in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution, finding vampires to kill but not taking a side in the war. He was done caring about the petty conflicts of man and wars always brought out the monsters. Vampires used the fighting to cover their kills but Finn had been a hunter longer than most vampires these days had been alive. It allowed him to track down the violent ones and purge them from this world. It was a shame he hadn't found any other vampires like him. Rose was the only one he could recall but he hadn't seen her since they met at Rodrigo's farm. Finn wasn't so certain her companion Trevor was the same but that didn't matter as he had heard nothing about either of them in centuries. He did wonder what happened to them sometimes or more specifically Rose.

After the Thirteen Colonies won independence, Finn headed back to Europe where he went after a group of vampires who had formed a power base in France. The nation had just abolished their monarchy and attempted to establish a republic but was descended into a chaotic struggle for power between various factions. Finn's prey had used the opportunity to install people under their control or collaborators like Maximilen Robespierre. The Original killed the monsters one by one until their nation was finally liberated from vampire control and their allies like Maximilen were stripped of power and executed. Napoleon Bonaparte rose to fill the power vacuum but Finn had left by that point, moving on as he always had.

He eventually ended back in the United States in a booming city on the shores of New Jersey. Atlantic City was known as the World's Playground. What had started as a small town in 1856 had become a major resort city. Hotels, shops, and casinos. Technically gambling was illegal but try finding an actual cop or district attorney willing to stop it would be even harder than finding Finn's siblings and he's been looking for them for nearly a thousand years. The whole town was run by a man named Eunuch Johnson. Known as Nucky to his friends, the Atlantic City County Treasurer was a mob boss with a government job. But he was only the puppet of the real scum who ran the city.

A new group of Italian gangsters named the DiMarco Brothers had moved in and were seemingly Nucky's henchmen. But the fact was all of the DiMarco's all seem to be the ones call who call the shots in Atlantic City and Nucky always defers to their judgment. This along with the fact that around the time the DiMarcos showed up in Atlantic City, a string of gruesome homicides started showing up. They had to be vampires who were using Nucky as the lightning rod for everyone to blame for their actions.

The smart hunter always let his prey come to him and Finn found that the best way to lure gangsters out of the muck was to go after their money. So he found their biggest casino and started playing craps. Finn wasn't a gambling man but a thousand years had taught him everything he needed to know about games. He had played with dice for centuries, finding it was an easy way to pass the time while getting to know the locals. He learned how to roll the dice right to always win and how to roll it to lose. Normally the Original wouldn't use this to clean house with a local vice establishment but tonight was the exception.

Finn won big clearing out nearly forty grand but when the dealer tried to get him to leave, Finn simply compelled him to let the game continue. By the end of the night, Finn had won nearly a hundred grand and attracted quite a large audience who cheered his every move. He could feel several women touching him inappropriately but he simply responded by pulling their hands off him and then ignoring them. It wasn't their attention he wanted anyways. When it was time to close Finn gathered his winnings and demanded to be cashed out.

The dealer instructed it would take several minutes to gather the necessary money. Several minutes later, multiple large men demanded Finn come with them. He wasn't surprised. Finn had no doubt that anyone who won big here probably ended up dead in a ditch somewhere. He followed them into the back of the building and immediately once they were in large storeroom, someone punched him in the face. Feigning weakness, Finn dropped to the ground and was immediately set upon as the thugs all began kicking and stomping him. It didn't hurt that much. They were probably centennials as Finn called them, vampires less than a hundred years old. There were at least five of them and they all hit like children. Finn would've laughed if he didn't need to act in pain.

"Get him up," ordered someone. Finn was grabbed by the arms and hauled up to his feet.

"You from outta town or just freshly turned?" demanded Vincent DiMarco who was wearing a highly expensive suit tonight. Finn recognized him from his surveillance of the DiMarco's entire organization, learning the hierarchy and making sure the brothers were the only vampires in this crew of vermin.

"What?" Finn acted confused. That got him a punch in the stomach.

"Don't play stupid with me. My brothers and I run this city and no other vampires are allowed here without our permission. So either you came from outta town and someone just turned you. Which is it?" Vincent asked.

"I don't even know what you're talking about," muttered Finn.

Vincent punched him again. "Are you deaf and stupid? The only way Carlo would have let you win as much as you did is because of compulsion so drop the act. Now tell me what I want to know," he warned before drawing a knife.

"Look guys I wasn't trying to muscle in on your turf. I just wanted to have a good time," Finn nervously laughed.

"Good times over," Vincent replied before stabbing Finn in the chest. It did go through deep enough to cause serious damage but it certainly hurt.

"Work him over. Once I get back with Mikey and Al, we're going to see if a vampire can grow all of his body parts back," Vincent ordered before heading out the door. So he was bringing his two brothers here, this was turning out just the way Finn planned. The DiMarcos seemed to enjoy torturing and killing their victims together so what better way to get them all together at once then by pretending to be some newbie vampire ripping them off. A devilish smile formed on Finn's face.

Half an hour later, the three DiMarco brothers entered the room to it a bloody mess. Their underlings had been ripped apart by what looked like a wild animal with blood stains scatted all along the floor, walls, and ceiling. "What the hell?" gasped Vincent.

Finn, who had been hiding behind the door, closed it behind the DiMarcos. His face and suit were covered in blood. The three turned and realized instantly they were going to die. There was defiance in their eyes but the fear of what would happen next was there as well. Finn pulled out the knife Vincent had used to stab him. "Let's see which of your body parts can grow back," he smiled.

* * *

Finn calmly strolled out of the casino as a fire began to rage inside. He had compelled the customers and staff to leave before dousing the building with gasoline and tossing a lite match into the place on his way out. Better such a place of vice and decadence burn along with its owners. Atlantic City would still go on with its whore mongering and gambling but at least it wouldn't be under the control of vampires. The thugs who profited from all of this might think themselves kings for now but the truth of all kings is that their reigns end.

Finn had seen enough of this city and wanted to leave as soon as possible. A train left for Boston in the morning and maybe he would be lucky and find another vampire to kill. This wasn't much of a life but it was one that Finn was caught in until his bastard half-brother was dead. A thousand years and the burning desire to see Klaus a rotting corpse would never go away until it was fulfilled. Killing vampires at least seemed to quell it for a time.

Finn made his way back to his hotel. The boardwalk was crowded tonight and it felt like a burden had been lifted off this city. With the DiMarcos and the rest of their vampire thugs dead, Atlantic City should start to regain a little peace. And yet you'd would never know such a thing if you judged everyone on the streets. The people of the city were continuing to drink and party as if nothing had happened. If only they knew the truth that the monsters they were told as children to scare them into doing their chores were real. They just killed you regardless of whether you were good or not.

Call it gut instinct but Finn could feel someone watching him. After a thousand years, he had learned to trust that uneasy feeling he'd get. It's been right more often than not. He headed into an empty alley and turned a corner. Finn came to a halt and waited for his possible pursuer to come straight to him. He waited but no one came and he didn't hear any footsteps either. Then the hair on the back of Finn's head stood up. That instinct was active again. He turned just as someone with ungodly strength grabbed him and slammed him into the building.

"Always be aware of your surroundings Finn," Mikael stated.

"Father?" Finn gasped as Mikael released him. "What are you doing here? Your last message said you were staying in Europe."

"I was but until I received this," Mikael explained. He pulled out a picture and handed it over to Finn. It was photograph of an audience at an opera theater but it was the two people in the center of the picture that caught Finn's attention. Klaus and Rebekah. There was no doubt it was the two of them, still together and still no doubt making each other miserable. Finn had heard that Klaus had continued his habit of inflicting harm upon any who would court Rebekah but Finn had long since lost any sympathy for his little sister. If you continue to keep a wild dog that bites you, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Finn checked the editorial at the bottom of the picture identifying the venue as the French Opera House in New Orleans. "You've found him," he whispered.

"Yes son and now we end him," Mikael said.

* * *

Finn and Mikael took a train to their destination. They compelled the staff to give them boxcar seats and complete privacy. On the trip there, the two recounted the previous two centuries since their last meeting. Mikael had purged most of Russia of its vampire ilk and was moving onto China when he found the opera picture in his hotel room he was staying at the time. He didn't know who sent it but it was obvious one of Niklaus's enemies. The bastard no doubt has no shortage of them.

It was hours before Finn finally had the courage to ask the question that's been on his mind for the past thousand years. "Father what are you going to do once you've kill him?" he asked.

Mikael frowned, "If I recall, you asked me that question two centuries ago."

"I did," nodded Finn. "And you never gave me an answer."

Mikael was silent for a moment. "Truthfully…I don't know," he admitted in a quiet voice. "I've spend so long driven by rage that I've almost forgotten what it was like to have peace. When you were a child, I would go on raids to plunder wealth and supplies that was our livelihood but after the battles I found peace when I returned home find you, your mother, and Freya all waiting for me."

Finn was dumbstruck. He hadn't seen this side of his father since Freya was alive. After her death, Father became distant and cold to everyone including Finn and Mother. Mikael continued, "I have sought justice for what that bastard has done to your mother but even when I finally shove the white oak stake into Klaus's heart, I will never have the peace that I had returning home from those raids ever again. What I want son is not to find new love or happiness to try and replace it because the truth is that no one can ever replace your Mother or Freya. I want another kind of peace. The kind only the dead know."

"You want to die?" asked an incredulous Finn.

"Haven't you ever felt the same?" asked Mikael. "You can't tell me you haven't once wished for all this pain and suffering we endure to end. We are cursed Finn and only death can release us from it."

* * *

 **New Orleans, Louisiana**

The home of Mardi Gras and the birthplace of Jazz was even more lively then Atlantic City. Finn and Mikael spent an entire day compelling information from the locals. It turns out there was an entire supernatural community thriving within the city. New Orleans was run by three factions: the vampires led by Klaus, the werewolves led by a mob family named the Guerraras, and a group of several witch covens led by an appointed Regent. The three factions had been vying for power over one another for centuries but with Prohibition about to begin, the former enemies had come to a mutually beneficial partnership. They would split the city amongst themselves and dominate the underground liquor trade together. Cooperating instead of fighting one another. What surprised Finn the most was that this was apparently Niklaus's idea. He wasn't aware the bastard was capable of such things given how Klaus had always been a creature of impulse.

But Mikael had found something more important. He found the third man in the opera picture that stood alongside Rebekah and Klaus. A vampire named Marcellus Gerard or Marcel as his friends call him. The fact that he was sitting next to those two in public meant he must be within Klaus's inner circle. Mikael and Finn began following him around until their patience paid off. Finn couldn't believe his eyes when he watched Marcel meet up with Rebekah at a tavern. He hadn't seen his little sister in almost 1000 years and yet there she was, flirting with the younger vampire without a care in the world.

The thought that she could enjoy herself so much infuriated Finn. Sage was brutally murdered by Klaus so he could control Finn's life and yet little Rebekah was somehow exempt from such cruelty? Sure Finn had heard the rumors that Klaus had killed several of Rebekah's lovers over the centuries but you wouldn't think she'd suffered judging from how she was smiling now.

Mikael and Finn both sat at the nearby bar counter, listening to the two unsuspecting vampires as they talked. Rebekah and Marcel had some interesting things to say especially regarding someone named Genevieve summoning Mikael. So it turned out the two love birds were responsible for sending Father the opera picture. Finn couldn't help but feel amused that Rebekah who had been so loyal to Klaus for a millennium now wanted him dead. Or at least did but now the two seemed relieved that spell to contact Father had failed. But still it proved that Niklaus's loyal circle wasn't so loyal.

Rebekah excused herself, saying she was going to meet with the Women's Temperance Society to speak about banning alcohol ironically when she was profiting from the underground sale of it. Finn kept his head down as Rebekah passed right behind him out the door.

Marcel headed to the bar counter and ordered another drink. "You're a lucky man," Mikael told him. "Men search the world over looking for a woman like her."

Marcel was clearly annoyed by the comment but kept his composure. "Well she's taken friend," he stated.

Mikael smiled, "Oh I can see that. It's just that she reminds me so much of my departed wife as a girl. I've been traveling for such a long time that it's a blessing to see a familiar soul so far from home."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Marcel replied. He raised his glass and said, "Here's to old faces in new places."

Mikael stood up and joined in the toast as they touched cups and drank. Finn had decided now was as good a time as any to join in and stood up from his barstool. He slowly strolled over the two, positioning himself behind Marcel. The younger vampire slightly turned his head, knowing he had company.

"To old faces," Finn said, raising his own cup. Marcel was clearly growing suspicious but remained calm.

"My son and I have been in New Orleans for a day and I find it to be quite surprising. Had I known of its charm and fascinating denizens, I would have come ages ago," Mikael said. "I suppose I have to thank you for extending this invitation."

Marcel glanced back at Finn and then at Mikael. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"Oh you're a smart man. I think you know," Mikael spoke as he pulled out the photo opera of Marcel, Klaus, and Rebekah. Marcel was about to run but Finn grasped him by the shoulders and held him in place.

"Have a seat," Mikael compelled Marcel. The younger vampire sat down confused. Most vampires compelled an Original usually were. It was always fun to see the predators being victims of their own tricks. Finn and Mikael both sat down as well on opposite sides of the vampire.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced. My name is Mikael and this is my son Finn," Mikael introduced himself.

Marcel threw a look at Finn. "Rebekah always told me you were dead," he stated.

"Interesting. Either she's lying to you or Klaus and Elijah lied to her," Finn commented.

"In any case we have business Mister Gerard," Mikael said. "I may have only been here for a day but I can already tell that you chafe until the control of that bastard Niklaus and would do just about anything to get rid of him. Even call the two men on this earth who hate him more than you do."

"Klaus murdered both of our loved ones and now he's going to pay for that," Finn explained.

"But I couldn't hope to understand what you hoped to gain? Rule of this city? New Orleans has its charms but to call me? The one they call the Destroyer? The one who's burned cities far more charming to the ground in pursuit of his children but now I see you did for love. The love of my daughter," Mikael explained.

Fury burned in Marcel's eyes. "Don't you dare touch her," he growled.

"Oh I assure you many men have touched her before you," Finn mocked. Marcel was struggling with every fiber in his body to leap out of his seat and attack him but his compelled body refused to obey.

"I'm going to make you a promise Mister Gerard. I won't hurt Rebekah as she was always my favorite and you can have this city but first you need to tell me where to find Niklaus," Mikael said.

* * *

Mikael kept his word and wouldn't hurt Rebekah. However his promise didn't include Finn and now the eldest son was waiting outside a church where his sister was attending a meeting for the Women's Temperance Society. Rebekah had a driver who chaperoned her around the city so Finn compelled the man to take a detour outside of town and ambush her there. Technically he didn't even have to deal with her. All Father wanted was to make sure Rebekah was out of the way and couldn't stop them.

But Finn couldn't just make it that simple. He needed to confront his sister and find out why she kept going back to Klaus. The man had repeatedly made her miserable for a thousand years and yet she always remained at his side. Why? Was she still clinging that to absurd vow they made over Mother's grave? Always and Forever they said to one another but words were wind. Finn didn't care about Elijah's reasons. The man had always coddled Niklaus like an injured puppy even though the puppy was now a rapid dog. Whatever loyalty Elijah had for Niklaus was delusional and insanity. But like Finn, Rebekah always clung to her humanity. She failed to embrace it at times but she still valued it unlike Kol, Elijah, and especially Klaus.

Rebekah finally emerged from the church and got inside her chaperone's car. Finn turned on the ignition to his own vehicle and followed them. Rebekah's driver took them outside of town. He was supposed to take her to a mansion on the outskirts of the Bayou but he would have an 'accident' along the way. Once New Orleans was out of sight, Rebekah's car suddenly pulled off the road and ended up stuck in the mud. Finn pulled off to the side. With his enhanced hearing, Finn could hear his sister berating the driver.

"I'm sorry ma'am. There was a squirrel…" the driver tried to explain. It was a lie but not one that he had a choice in saying.

"Next time run over the bloody vermin!" Rebekah snapped. She got out of the car and was probably going to push the vehicle back onto the road. As an Original, she certainly had the strength. But she stopped the second she noticed Finn's car. Probably didn't want to show off superhuman strength in front of a witness. Finn got out and kept his felt hat down to partially conceal his face as he approached.

"It's alright! We're fine," Rebekah called out to him, probably thinking he was some Good Samaritan. Finn couldn't believe she didn't recognize him even with the hat covering some of his face.

"The car's not stuck. It just needs…" Rebekah continued. Finn removed his hat, revealing himself.

The blood drained from Rebekah's face. "Finn…" she gasped. "…it can't be."

"Hello sister," Finn said.

Rebekah was completely speechless, seemingly unable to grasp who was standing before her. "This is impossible. You're dead," she whispered.

"And who told you that? Elijah? Niklaus?" Finn asked.

"They told me Mikael killed you. We mourned for you," Rebekah whimpered. Now it all made sense. Elijah and Niklaus both lied to her but Finn wasn't surprised by that. Those two were always conspiring with the other even as children. That they did it at everyone else's expense especially Rebekah's only showed their priorities and their little sister wasn't one of them.

"They lied to you. I saw Elijah back at Cadiz and I nearly took his head off before he escaped," remarked Finn.

Rebekah's eyes widened. "You…were helping Mikael?" she asked in disbelief.

"He is our father. Address him as such," Finn said.

"Ma'am is everything alright?" Rebekah's driver peered out of the car.

"Shut up," Finn called out to him. The driver, still compelled to obey, didn't make another sound.

"You would side with the same monster who murdered our mother?" hissed Rebekah.

"Klaus murdered Mother! Just like he killed Sage!" shouted Finn.

Rebekah was starting to back away, ready to run the second she had a chance. "Are you here to kill me?" she asked.

"I'm here to make sure you stay out of the way," Finn stated.

"Mikael's going to kill Nik isn't he?" Rebekah realized.

"He's going to avenge us all of what that bastard has done to us," Finn smiled.

"You can't!" Rebekah cried out.

"And why not?!" shouted Finn as he stormed up to her. "Why shouldn't Klaus pay for everything he's ever done to us? Not just for killing our Mother or Sage but also murdering your lovers, daggering us for centuries at a time for his own amusement, and making sure that none of us ever know happiness again. How could you beg for his life after everything he's done?"

"Because he's our brother. He's our family," Rebekah pleaded. And there it was, the real reason she stuck by him. She loved Klaus despite everything he's done and she'll keep loving him no matter what he does. Finn used to think that Rebekah was just as vindictive as the rest of his siblings but now he saw she was simply blinded by love and it was one that would never go out. The fact she had stayed with Klaus for a thousand years proved that.

"Poor little sister. You're one of the most powerful creatures on this Earth and yet you are nothing more then a battered housewife. Always clinging to the idea of love to a man who brings nothing but pain into your life. I will never forgive you for the way you treated Sage but I will still give you a gift that you have been denied for a millennia. Freedom," Finn said, his tone gentler then he expected.

"You're letting me go?" asked Rebekah.

"No," Finn shook his head. He rushed forward and grasped his little sister by the neck. "I'm going to free you from our wretched sibling. Only then will we both know peace."

And with that said, Finn snapped Rebekah's neck.


	7. Inferno-1919

"Has Rebekah been dealt with?" Mikael asked once Finn met up with him at the French Opera House. Father had learned from Marcel that Niklaus was attending a showing of Le Grande Guignol. He had sent Finn off to take care of Rebekah while he dealt with Elijah. That left only the bastard who would be completely alone and this time he wouldn't get away.

"Bound with vervain ropes and in a car on its way to Alabama. What about Elijah?" replied Finn.

"He won't be joining us," Mikael answered. Father insisted on giving Elijah a chance to join them. Why he felt that way Finn didn't understand. Elijah had always been loyal to the bastard even when they were children. That wouldn't change no matter what. Elijah was as naïve and delusional as Rebekah when it came to his love toward Klaus.

"I told you he'd never turn against Niklaus," Finn sighed.

"It doesn't matter now. It's time for the climax of this tragedy," Mikael stated. The two entered the theater where people were taking their seats in the auditorium.

"Niklaus will be on box seat on the second floor right side of the theater," Mikael explained.

Finn couldn't help but feel excited. He's been waiting for this moment for a thousand years. After a millennia of hunting and failed attempts, finally this chapter in Finn's long life would be over. He wasn't sure what he was more excited more though. To actually watch that murderous bastard die or for Finn to actually move on with his life. The two headed upstairs to the second floor and compelled security outside of the box seat to leave.

Klaus's back was turned to them but Finn recognized him instantly. He's dreamed countless times killing his half-brother. He would torture him for days without end, ripping off body parts and letting them grow back before ripping them off again. Inject the bastard with vervain into his veins and let the corrosive chemical course through Klaus's skin so he would know what it was like to be burned alive from the inside out. The methods of torture would always change but the ending would always be the same. Finn would make Klaus say Mother and Sage's names would shoving a white oak stake into his heart. Now he wouldn't be the one to kill Niklaus as Mikael had the stake but at least he'd get the privilege of watching.

The two hunters entered the balcony with Klaus seemingly unaware of their presence. Finn sat down beside while Mikael sat down behind him. Father stuck the stake into Niklaus's back. "I would advise against trying to flee boy," Mikael warned.

Klaus didn't stir, surprisingly calm. "I can drive this into your heart before you can even think about getting to your feet. And I don't want you to die yet," Mikael added.

Klaus glanced to his side, noticing Finn. That was when he realized the depth of peril he was currently in. "Finn," he whispered.

"Hello Niklaus," spat Finn.

"Whatever Father told you…" Klaus tried to say.

"Is far more believable then any words that spew out of your mouth," Finn interrupted him. "I know everything Niklaus. I know that you murdered Mother and then butchered almost our entire village to cover it up and kill any witnesses. The others might believe your lies but I'm not so naïve."

Klaus remained silent then said, "If this is about Sage then you should know that I've come to realize over the centuries that what I did was a mistake."

Finn scoffed, "Oh you'll simply say an apology and everything will be better again? Rebekah and Elijah might accept your apologies whenever you've killed someone they've cared for because the truth is they never truly loved anyone. But I will never forgive you because I did love Sage."

"Then again that is what is all about isn't it? Love," remarked Mikael. "You've always wanted to be loved and never did anything to deserve it. You were a disappointment to me and your Mother and probably a disappointment to your real Father if he ever knew you existed. You've done nothing but bring misery into the lives of your family. The only reason Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol stood by you all those years was because they feared you. If they knew the truth of what you've done, they would be ecstatic to see you shuffle off your immortal coil."

"What have you done with them?" demanded Klaus, probably realizing the absence of his siblings was no coincidence.

"Elijah and Rebekah will not be joining us this evening," Mikael stated.

"Oh don't worry they won't die Niklaus," Finn assured him with an evil smile. "You're the only one dying tonight."

"If you want me dead then so be it but know this. I am no longer the animal begging for scraps of your affection Mikael," said a defiant Klaus. "I will die knowing my hatred of you was just. I will fall proud of all I've achieved here. So if the two of you are going to kill me then get on with it."

This wasn't nearly as satisfying as Finn was hoping for. He wanted Klaus to beg for his life, plead for it like a dog. Instead his bastard brother was stubborn and actually showed some courage. Maybe he's finally grown a spine in the past thousand years.

"All in due time boy but first I must say I've enjoyed this kingdom you've built for yourself. As I've walked the streets of this city, your name was spoken of in reverend terms by this city's finest. So after I've killed you, I will remain here in New Orleans until every last person who remembers you is dead. The deeds of the mighty Klaus will be remembered by no one. And you boy will have simply never have existed," Mikael taunted.

Finn was starting to grow concerned by his Father's threats. They came here to kill the bastard and perhaps purge this city of all its murderous vampires. Killing innocent humans who may not even know what Niklaus even is was crossing a line. He hoped that Mikael's words were simply taunts meant to destroy the bastard's spirit before the kill.

Music filled the auditorium and the lights dimmed as the play began. "Ah the grand show. I made some alterations in your honor. You'll love it," Mikael whispered.

The curtain ascended onstage, revealing two large poles with corpses skewered upon them. In between them was an X shaped cross with an unconscious Marcellus Gerard crucified to it. Beside him was a woman impaled upon a wooden beam. Such a sight should have been revolting but yet the audience started laughing and cheering. Something was very wrong here.

"Marcel," gasped a stunned Klaus. Mikael burst into laughter as he allowed the bastard to leap off the balcony and raced onto the stage. Finn was so stunned by what was transpiring around him that when Father chased after Niklaus, he didn't join him. Mikael wasn't just interested in killing Klaus but tormenting him as well. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. Finn only wanted Klaus dead, not anyone else. He had no love of Marcel but watching Klaus struggle to save him was almost heartbreaking.

Mikael stopped Klaus from pulling Marcellus down and held the dagger up to his chest. Finn thought now it was finally over. Niklaus would finally be dead. Then suddenly, a figure rushed onstage with superhuman speed. Finn couldn't believe it when he realized it was Rebekah. How did she manage to escape? Finn thought she wouldn't be able to get free for several more hours.

Rebekah grabbed Mikael's stake arm, pulling the white stake away from her half-brother. Klaus tried to attack Mikael but Father easily shoved him away, launching the bastard across the stage and onto a wooden piece of the stage that pierced his abdomen. Rebekah attempted to pull Marcel free but Mikael pull out a piece of a nearby wooden guardrail and stabbed her in the chest. He shoved his daughter at Klaus as her desiccated body landed near her brother's feet. Mikael then turned his attention back to Marcel and bite him on the neck, feeding on him.

Finn didn't understand what his Father was trying to accomplish here. He was wasting time when he should have killed the bastard already. Losing his patience, Finn jumped down from the balcony. Sage's face was running through his mind as he rushed towards an injured Klaus. He grabbed his half-brother by the suit and forced him to his feet. Finn might not be able to kill him but that didn't mean he couldn't torture the bastard.

"This is for Sage and Mother!" Finn shouted as he pulled out the piece of wood piercing Klaus's side. The bastard screamed in pain as Finn was about to stab out his eyes.

Suddenly something jabbed into Finn's ribs, causing him immense pain. He cried out as he suddenly launched across the stage. Finn glanced down to realize he'd been stabbed with a metal rod and his attacker was none other than Elijah. Apparently Father did as poor of a job of taking care of him as Finn did of taking care of Rebekah.

"There's no helping Marcel. We must run," Elijah urged his brother. Klaus was torn but relented. Elijah picked up Rebekah and the two fled towards the exit.

"They're getting away!" Finn shouted at his father. He pulled out the metal rod, enduring the intense pain that came with it.

Yet Mikael didn't seem concerned. He calmly ripped his hand out of Marcel's chest though without any organs. He had been torturing the younger vampire, not killing him. Mikael strolled over to a lantern and pulled of its hook.

"Then we'd best be on our way," Mikael said as he headed off stage and into the auditorium. Finn followed him down an aisle, not understating what his Father needed a lamp for. Vampires could see in the dark remarkably well. Then Mikael turned and swung the lantern underhand, about to toss it.

Finn lunged towards him and grabbed his arm, stopping him. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Fulfilling my promise to the bastard. I'm going to erase him from this city he adores so much and everyone who knows him," Mikael growled.

"This is not what we agreed," Finn protested.

Mikael was losing his patience. "Either you stand with me or you are against me," he warned.

Finn knew his Father was a monster but he had never been this ruthless before. This was the same man who taught him to not drink from the innocent and yet here he was about to burn an entire theater of innocents for nothing more than the crime of knowing Klaus. Mikael had changed over the centuries and now Finn realized he had changed into something just as evil as Klaus.

"I won't let you do this!" Finn shot back. Mikael didn't even hesitate when he shot his free hand into Finn's injured ribs. His son screamed in pain as Mikael set down the lantern and grabbed Finn with his other hand. He hoisted Finn off his feet, squeezing his neck.

"Then burn with them!" Mikael shouted.

Finn suddenly found himself hurled through the air and back onto the stage. He landed on a guardrail which pierced his shoulder and right leg, causing his body to pulse with excruciating pain all over his body. For a moment Finn wouldn't move, too injured to pull himself free from the wood that penetrated his skin.

A flash ignited near the front row as a fire began to rage inside the theater. Within moments, it was already consuming several rows of people who cried out in pain as they were burned alive. Yet no one tried to escape, compelled by Father not to. This was his plan all along. To massacre everyone who knew Klaus so that he could take away the bastard's legacy.

Finn pulled his body free from the wooden debris but was barely able to stand. The fire raged out of control and though it wouldn't kill the Original, it would kill everyone else in this room. The flames had spread across the aisles, forming a natural barrier that blocked Finn from being able to help anyone in the audience. His leg was still too injured to attempt to jump over it and by the time it healed, it would be too late. There was only one person Finn was still able to reach and fate had a sense of irony as it was Marcel.

Finn could have simply let him die. He was a vampire after all and yet he couldn't get the image of Rebekah frantically trying to save Marcel out of his head. She had gone to save her lover instead of her brother which meant perhaps he did mean a great deal to her. Strangely enough Finn was thinking of Sage as he saw Marcel's helpless body hung on the cross. Rebekah was helpless to save someone she loves just like Finn was helpless to save Sage. He knew he shouldn't feel this way. Marcel and Sage were nothing alike and yet Marcel was about to suffer Sage's fate. Dying because of love.

Finn limped onto the stage, coughing as the smoke began to thicken. He couldn't believe what he was about to but reached up and pulled Marcel right off the cross. Thankfully the vampire was unconscious and didn't suffer any pain. Finn hauled him across the stage and out of the only exit the fire hadn't cut them off from. The screams of the audience echoed from the theater as he stumbled outside.

Finn carried Marcel through an alley and across a street to safety. Sirens boomed across the neighborhood as people scrambled to put out the fire. Once he was certain the younger vampire was safe enough away, Finn set him down in nearby alley.

"Why?" Marcel whispered, clearly lucid enough to realize what happened and that Finn saved him.

Finn didn't say a word to him or even looked back. He just kept on walking.

(I probably should have included this in the last chapter but the last one was long enough. Finn saved Marcel for another reason then just the situation reminded him of Sage but I'll get into that in some future chapter.)


	8. Noire part 1-1950

**Los Angeles, Califonia-1950**

It was a warm night tonight. A gentle Pacific breeze blew through the open window into the small office that Finn spent most of his days. It was strange to actually settle down and get a regular job, paying bills, and living the so called American Dream. Finn had never stayed too long in any one place before. He was always on the move, spending centuries hunting and killing vampires. But that part of his life was now over.

After the French Opera House burned down in 1919, Finn decided to end his former life. Seeing what revenge and rage had driven Mikael into becoming a worse monster then Klaus, Finn refused to follow that fate and abandoned his hunt not just for his half-brother but also for any other vampire as well. He left New Orleans and wandered around the country looking for various odd jobs. He's been a construction worker, a sheriff's deputy, a farm worker, anything that could allow him to pay for room and board until he would move on.

December 7, 1944 was a day that would live in infamy. The Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. The attack was unprovoked and shortly after, the Japanese launched a series of invasions across the Western Pacific. United States President Franklin Roosevelt rallied the country together and the Pacific War had begun.

Finn had been working as a factory worker in San Francisco when he heard the news. Desiring for years to find some kind of cause worth fighting for and feeling guilty for his part in the massacre Mikael caused in New Orleans, Finn joined the United States Marine Corps and was assigned to the 1st Marine Division as a Private First Class. He worked under the alias of Finn Morgan as he felt using the Mikaelson name would just draw trouble. He fought in numerous campaigns including Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, and Okinawa. Finn had been shot multiple times but would always heal and compel anyone who saw it to forget. Sometimes during the long campaigns, he would sneak out of the American camps at night and track down nearby Japanese outposts. Their treatment of civilians was horrendous which allowed Finn to feed on them without any feeling any guilt.

After the war, he retired from the Marines and moved to Los Angeles where he started working as a private investigator. Turns out there was plenty of money to be made in a profession to finding out who a spouse was cheating with. Of course that wasn't the only thing a PI did. Finn developed a knack for tracking down lost items, particularly expensive jewelry. That brought him some wealthy clients but Finn didn't want to just cater to the rich. If you could pay a reasonable rate, he'd find whatever you need whether it was a diamond or a missing person. He bought a house and had spent the past few years living in LA. Finn had no idea how long this would last. He'd eventually move on but for now he was going to enjoy the simplicity and relative quiet that came with this life.

Finn was about to close up his office for the night when he heard a knock on the door. He got up from his deck and answered it to find a young woman in her teens with dark hair and brown eyes waiting outside. She was certainly younger than the normal clients. "Can I help you?" Finn asked.

"Mister Morgan?" she asked. Finn nodded in response. "My name is Anna. Can we talk?"

Finn opened the door wider and stepped aside, allowing her to enter before closing the door. "Now what can I do for you miss?" Finn inquired as he sat down at his desk while Anna sat down at the visitor's chair.

"Zhu. Annabelle Zhu but call me Anna. I understand you're an expert at finding lost items. A family heirloom that belonged to my mother was stolen and I'd like to hire you to find it," Anna answered. Finn didn't really know what to make of her. She didn't seem nervous like someone her age. A kid meeting a complete stranger wasn't usually this confident.

"Can you afford it?" Finn asked. He wasn't running a charity.

Anna pulled out a wad of cash and set it on the desk. Finn quickly skimmed through it and determined there was at least a thousand dollars. "That's very generous of you," he commented.

"If it's past the price for your services, consider it extra motivation," Anna stated. She didn't spare a glance the money. This was someone who probably had lots of it to not even bat an eye over paying that much.

"Alright then," agreed Finn who pocketed the money. "What was stolen?"

"It's a ruby necklace," Anna explained as she pulled out a photograph of the item. The necklace was shaped to look like two serpent dragons forming into a heart shape with a red ruby in-between them.

"Very exotic," Finn observed.

"My father purchased it for my mother and now that both of them are gone, it's the only thing I have left that was truly theirs," Anna said. Finn could understand wanting to keep a piece of your past, especially something to remind you of someone you cared for who has passed on.

"Have you talked to the police?" asked Finn.

"They couldn't provide me with much help but they did find something. The necklace was stolen from a boat I had it shipped over from China. The night of the robbery, a man and a woman who seemed out of place were spotted on the docks. They drove off in a black Oldmobile 98 De Luxe 4-Door Sedan," said Anna.

"Pretty specific details," remarked Finn.

"The witness who saw it apparently has a thing for cars," shrugged Anna.

"Did they steal anything else?" asked Finn.

"No just the necklace," Anna shook her head.

"Did anybody else know you were shipping the necklace on that particular ship?" Finn inquired because it was quite strange that two bandits only took a valuable necklace and nothing else. Unless they were hired to specifically take that item.

"Only a few people and they're all still overseas," answered Anna.

"I have to be honest with you Anna. The thieves may have already left the city. If that's the case then I may not be able to find it," Finn explained.

"Please it's all I have left from my mother. Just find it however you have to," pleaded Anna.

* * *

Finding a stolen item usually wasn't very hard. If a thief wanted to get any large amounts of money and quickly, they needed a fence to sell it to. Finn had compelled every kind of dealer who dealt with illegal goods to give him a tip anytime he was looking for a specific item. Unfortunately, this case was proving the exemption. Not a single major fence in Los Angeles had seen the item or heard of anyone who might have it. This could be the rare time when the thieves are actually smart and were going to wait a few months or even years to lay low until it was safer to sell the necklace.

Thankfully Finn had other leads. He compelled information from the police to give him a list of everyone in the city that matched the description of the thieves' getaway car. It was a long shot as they might have dumped the vehicle or possibly simply stole it for the robbery then returned it once they were done. Still it was really the only major lead Finn had so he had to pursue it. Interrogating the owners of so many vehicles took several days but his patience had paid off.

Gregory Matheson owned a house in Wilshire Park and when Finn knocked, the man only slightly opened the door leaving the chain lock in place. The inside of his house was suspiciously dark. All of the window shades were closed even though it was the middle of the day. The man was also wearing a long sleeve shirt despite it being a rather humid day. Finn's old hunter instincts kicked in. There was a vampire or two hiding in that house. Mister Matheson proved uncooperative, probably compelled to get Finn to leave so the Original did just that.

He stalked out the place and waited until nightfall before someone emerged from the house. The figure exited through the back door and headed into the garage to get into Oldsmobile. Finn couldn't make out his or her face but kept his head down in his own car, waiting for the vehicle to pass by before following. He trailed behind his target to an old abandoned factory. Finn didn't pull into the building's parking lot along with his target but rather passed by the building and that parked in an alley nearby.

Exiting his car, he climbed up the building closest to the factory and used it to jump across onto the rooftop. Going through a window on the roof was a far more subtle entrance then just using the front door. Finn entered through a skyline window and climbed onto the ductwork and metal works covering the ceiling. It gave him a perfect view of an entire large room covered with various debris and wooden boxes. But it's the two individuals speaking to one another that caught his interest. One was a blonde woman who looked to be in her twenties while the other was a woman with brown hair whose back was turned to Finn.

"Are you sure this is it?" the blonde woman asked.

"They sent me a picture of it via telegraph. This is definitely it," the other woman said with a familiar female voice.

The two were looking inside of a small box, most likely containing the ruby necklace. Finn was tempted to jump down, grab it, and take off. He'd hadn't killed another vampire in more than thirty years and wasn't about to start up again. He was done hunting down monsters when he was nothing more than one himself. But Finn recognized one of the voices and wanted to figure out who it was before he made any move.

"They should have been here by now," the familiar voice sighed nervously.

"Probably got stuck in traffic. Just relax and this will be all over before you know it," the blonde assured.

"I need this deal to go through Lexi. If they get cold feet then Trevor is as good as dead. We already have enough problems with Klaus putting a price on our heads," the brown-haired woman replied. Wait a minute, she was on the run from Klaus with someone named Trevor? Finn couldn't believe it. He hadn't seen her in almost five hundred years and yet there couldn't be anyone else.

The woman turned and it confirmed his suspicions. Rose-Marie was still just as beautiful as the night she stepped inside of Rodrigo's farm. Her hair and clothing were more in line with the modern day fashion but her green eyes still stood out among her lovely face. Finn chided himself for thinking like that. Rose was attractive but he almost killed her. She'd probably be terrified of the Original the second she saw him so it was best to suppress such childish thoughts.

"It'll be fine Rose. Once this is done you can celebrate. Maybe even relax and see someone," suggested Lexi.

"Trying to set me up with Stefan again?" chuckled Rose.

"He's a nice guy," Lexi pointed out.

"I'm not into nice guys. Now that brother of his on the other hand…" laughed Rose.

"Oh God don't tell me you would actually be interested in Damon," Lexi groaned.

"You did say he was hot," Rose quipped.

"Yeah and that's the only good thing about him," grumbled Lexi.

The sound of car engines caught Finn's attention. Several vehicles had just pulled into the parking lot. It would seem whomever Rose and Lexi were waiting for had arrived. Finn assumed they were selling the necklace but he hadn't actually seen the item. Still it was a safe bet considering the number of coincidences that led him to where he is now.

The front door to the warehouse opened and five men along with one woman shuffled inside. They were comprised of multiple ethnicities but they all wore expensive suits and ties. Finn knew vampires when he saw them and these were definitely blood suckers. The dead giveaway was the similar rings on their fingers all similar to the daylight rings Esther gave to her husband and children after they became vampires. Only a handful of vampires worldwide had access to such items and only two factions gave them out to members. One was the followers of Klaus and Elijah who proved worthy enough to not just be turned into vampires but also a daylight ring as well. The other was the Strix, a group of some of the first vampires ever sired. They were highly influential in both business and international politics.

Finn could actually remember the day the Strix was formed. Elijah had an idea of turning powerful members within European society into vampires and then forming a secret society that would work towards manipulating the world into something better. Tristan De Martel was the first vampire he sired and the first to join. Finn was actually pleased with the concept at first until its ranks were filled with ruthless sociopaths. Since his centuries long hunt of Klaus, Finn had encountered several of their members and stripped them of their lives. To think he once considered their leader Tristan a friend though the man may not even still be alive at this point.

"Where's your boyfriend?" one of the vampires asked Rose. He was a large dark skinned man with bald head and cold dead eyes.

"Trevor's not here. Now I have what you want," Rose replied. She glanced back and forth at the other vampires nervously.

"Show me," the large vampire ordered. Lexi stepped forward with the briefcase and opened it, revealing the necklace inside. Well that confirmed that Rose was behind the robbery but why? To send five vampires to retrieve a necklace didn't make any sense. Also why was Rose dealing with these people in the first place? It couldn't have been for money because she could have simply compelled some wealthy upper class individuals for that.

"I need to inspect the ruby," the large vampire added.

"Fine but just one," conceded Rose. The leader motioned to the single woman within their group. Her raven dark hair seemed to flow as she calmly strolled up to Lexi. She held out her hand towards the necklace and closed her eyes, concentrating. Finn had no doubt she was a witch which meant they were probably Strix. He couldn't remember a single witch who ever cooperated with his siblings, at least not for very long anyways.

The witch opened her eyes and lowered her raised hand. She turned to the leader and said, "It's genuine."

The leader smiled, "Good. Then we have one more piece of business to attend to."

Rose frowned, "What business? The deal was you get the necklace and you people leave Trevor alone."

"That's not the deal but I'm willing to make you and your friend one," replied leader. He pulled out a ring and held it up.

"Tell me where your friend Trevor is and my friend Amelia here will turn this pretty little jewel into a daylight ring," he added, referring to the witch.

Rose and Lexi went silent, their eyes locked on the object. Finn could understand the envious look on their faces. When he first turned into a vampire, he was forced to take refuge inside his family's hut during the day and only able to leave during the night. The day Mother created the first daylights rings for her children, Finn walked for hours in the woods having a new appreciation towards the day.

"You said you'd leave Trevor alone," Rose protested.

"He stole an entire shipment of gold belonging to the Strix. There will be no pardon for that. You, however, have proven quite resourceful in retrieving what was stolen from us. We could use someone like that in our organization," the leader explained. Wait a minute, was he saying that the necklace was stolen from them? Did Anna hire Finn to find the item she originally stole from the Strix? None of this made any sense, why was everyone so desperate to get their hands on this thing?

"Trevor walks free. That's non-negotiable," Rose said firmly. Finn had to admire both her bravery and loyalty. She knew such words could get her killed and yet she refused to betray her friend, not even for something as valuable as a daylight ring.

The leader sighed in disappointment as he pocketed the ring. "A shame," he remarked.

The witch Amelia held up both her hands and Rose and Lexi screamed in pain, dropping to their knees. The leader calmly walked over to the dropped box and retrieved the necklace. "You're going to tell me where he is. How much you suffer however is up to you," he said.

Finn had seen enough. He leaped down from the trusses and landed behind the witch. She didn't have a chance to react before Finn knocked out her with a single punch. Rose and Lexi were left groaning on the ground recovering from the mystical assault while all of the Strix's members turned their attention towards the new arrival.

"Who the hell are you?" demanded the leader.

"Leave now," Finn ordered. Leader motioned towards the four others as they dashed towards him. None of them had any idea who they were messing with.

Finn kicked away the first one to attack then blocked a punch from another, shoving him into another and knocking them both down. The fourth actually got a hit on the Original's face but it only made him madder. Finn grabbed him by the throat one-handed and lifted him off his feet, snapping his neck before dropping him. He glared at the leader who suddenly didn't seem very confident and neither did the other thugs.

"Leave now. I won't say it again," Finn warned.

The leader suddenly joined the fight, catching the Original off guard and tackling him right through a wooden crate. Finn was a little disoriented from the impact as leader began pummeling him with a series of punches to the face. Unlike his goons, this vampire was actually old enough to at least give Finn a fight. The Original caught leader's fist by the wrist and twisted, breaking the wrist. Leader cried out in pain as Finn grabbed a wooden shard with his free hand and stabbing his opponent in his chest. It missed his heart but Leader staggered back, getting to safety.

Finn got back to his feet and ripped two wooden shards from the destroyed crate he crashed into. Now armed, Finn motioned for his opponents to come get him. The three remaining goons charged at him. Finn stabbed two of them at the same time in their hearts with his wooden weapons. While the two dropped dead, Finn grabbed the third and extended his fangs. He bite down on the vampire's neck and began sucking away the crimson mist spraying out of his opponent's severed artery. It's been years since he drank vampire blood. He mostly compelled humans for blood and while he despised it, Finn always made sure his victims would always survive afterwards. But the taste of vampire blood unleashed an animal fury Finn hadn't felt since New Orleans. After taking his fill, he bite down even harder and completely snapped through the neck bone decapitating the vampire.

Finn licked the blood off his lips at the headless corpse dropped to the ground. He turned to the Leader who now looked completely terrified. He was about to flee when he screamed as a wooden piece of debris exploded from his chest. He gasped as his skin desiccated and he dropped to the ground dead, revealing Rose as his killer. Her eyes widened as she saw the Original's face. "Finn?" she gasped.

"You know him?" asked a nervous Lexi who had gotten back to her feet.

"We've met," nodded Rose.

"Please tell me he's your friend," gulped Lexi, not wanting to get into a fight with Finn especially after what she just saw.

"What are you doing here?" Rose asked which did nothing to help dissuade her friend's fear.

"I was hired to find a stolen item," Finn said as he walked up to Leader's corpse and searched his pockets. He pulled out the ruby necklace and held it up. "Now would someone mind telling me just what exactly is going on?"

(As LA Confidential is one of my all-time favorite movies, I had to do a crime noire like story.)


	9. Noire part 2

She hadn't seen Finn in over five hundred years so the last thing Rose expected was for him to suddenly drop in on her meeting with the Strix. He managed to knockout the Strix witch and then dealt with the rest of the vampires save for two. One had his neck snapped and the leader was left injured and defenseless. Before he could escape, Rose stabbed him through the back with a wooden fragment and killed him. She couldn't allow him to escape and bring reinforcements.

Finn took possession of the necklace and demanded to know what was going on. Apparently someone had hired him to retrieve the necklace and now he wanted answers. Rose didn't really have much. She had been trying to negotiate to get a death mark off Trevor's head after he stole a shipment of gold that belonged to them. At the time, Rose slugged him when she found out what he did and tried to find a way to give it back. Unfortunately, they ran into a group of vampire hunters and were forced to leave the gold behind to flee for their lives.

Rose was contacted by a representative of the Strix who said they were willing to let bygones be bygones in exchange for finding a necklace that had been stolen from them. They believed the item was being shipped to Los Angeles which didn't give Rose a lot to go on. Why such a powerful group of vampires were after a necklace was beyond Rose and her contact wasn't forthcoming on a reason either. It took a lot of digging but she finally found out someone was picking up a box the second it got to port. There was no proof it was the necklace but it was all she had. Rose and Trevor infiltrated the ship and compelled to the crew to find the box. Sure enough, the necklace was inside. They escaped and were forced to separate. Rose believed it was better that Trevor stay away until she could finish negotiating with the Strix on his behalf.

Instead of Trevor, Rose had an old friend named Lexi as her backup. The two vampires met back in the 1700s in Charlestown, North Carolina. They became fast friends bonding over their hatred for their blood lust and finding ways to avoid harming humans. They kept in touch over the centuries, meeting up and having wild nights that usually involved consuming too much alcohol and waking up in bed with men they didn't recognize. Lexi had been in Los Angeles at the time and offered to help when she heard about Rose's little meeting with the Strix. Thankfully Finn had showed up or both of them would be dead.

After explaining to the Original how they ended up in this meet gone bad, Finn decided they needed to leave before more Strix reinforcements arrive to investigate their missing comrades. Of the two survivors, Finn let the vampire with a broken neck awaken then compelled him to believe that Rose and Lexi had back up and only he and the witch Amelia were the only survivors of the brawl with everyone else including Rose, Trevor, and Lexi dead. Hopefully that would get the Strix off their backs.

Finn drove the two younger vampires to his house in the Westlake neighborhood. It was a relatively newer home that was probably just built a few years ago. It was a simple one story California Bungalow, not a mansion you'd expect an Original to lord over an entire city. But then again, Finn didn't seem the type who cared about living in a castle or having a fancy car judging from what he was driving. Rose remembered the time she met him in Italy and how he was living with a poor farmer. This was not a man who enjoyed extravagance.

Rose and Lexi didn't need to be invited in as Finn was the one who owned the deed to the place. If a human owned it then it would be a different story. Finn's interior decoration style was slightly old fashioned but judging from his record collection, his musical tastes were the opposite with all his jazz records. No family pictures which meant either he hadn't seen the rest of his family in a while or he simply didn't want to.

"Sunrise will be in less than an hour so the two of you can stay here for the day. I only have one spare bedroom but I can sleep on the couch," Finn offered.

"You don't have to do that," Rose assured him.

"It wouldn't be fair for me to let one of my guests sleep in a bed while the other gets none. Please I insist," Finn replied.

"Can't argue with him Rose. He's an Original," Lexi quipped.

"Alright you win," Rose conceded.

"Good then make yourselves comfortable. I need to make a call," Finn nodded. The Original headed into the kitchen presumably where his phone was located.

"How do you know an Original?" Lexi asked as the two younger vampires sat down in the living room.

"It was a long time ago. Almost four hundred years actually," answered Rose.

"Must have made quite an impression for him to suddenly be helping us like this," smiled Lexi.

Rose understood what she was implying but quickly shot that theory down. "He almost killed me and Trevor," she said.

Lexi's smile faded as Rose continued, "We were being chased by a group of thugs working for Klaus. Finn was staying at a farm we took shelter in when dawn got too close. Turned out he drank other vampire's blood the same way we drink human blood. He overpowered the two of us and was about to kill us when Klaus's thugs showed up. Finn killed them for killing the owner of the farm and I managed to talk him into letting us go."

"But you don't seem scared of him," commented Lexi.

"Well he saved my life and Trevor's the last time and he just saved the two of us. Hard to be frightened or hate someone who does that," Rose pointed out. "Plus he also did something else for me."

"And what's that?" asked Lexi.

Rose was about to answer when Finn returned to the living room. "I've set up a meeting with the woman who hired me to retrieve the necklace. We'll talk in my office first thing in the morning," he said.

"You didn't tell her what you've got right?" Lexi asked.

"Of course not. The last thing I need is for her to possibly set a trap for me," Finn answered.

"Well good luck then. If you don't get back by sunset, we'll be leaving," Rose spoke. Lexi threw her a look and Finn was slightly surprised as well.

"Look I can't thank you enough for what you've done for us Finn but we really need to find Trevor and get as far away from LA as possible. There might still be Strix in the city and since I can't negotiate with them, we need to leave before they might find us," Rose explained. She hoped she didn't disappoint the Original especially after everything he's done for them.

"I understand," Finn said. He seemed slightly disappointed which made Rose feel a little guilty. She wanted to help more but she had to think of Trevor and Lexi. If Rose didn't leave then the two of them would refuse to leave as well and she couldn't allow them be put into more danger then they already were.

"The two of you should get some rest. I've got a meeting with my client in the morning," Finn suggested.

* * *

Finn managed to get himself a few hours sleep on the couch. Normally he'd wake up to see the sun shining through the windows but he had to close all the curtains for the sake of his guests. Finn found it ironic that thirty years ago, he was slaughtering vampires left and right and now he was playing host to two of them. Granted they weren't like other vampires or at least he assumed not. He knew Rose was unlike any other vampire he's come across, one with an actual conscious. Lexi he wasn't so sure about but she was friends with Rose so that must mean she's probably not a horrible person.

Once he was up, Finn took a shower before getting breakfast. It was just cereal and didn't provide any actual sustenance to a vampire but he found he enjoyed the usual morning routine. It helped make him feel more human that way. Just as he preparing to leave, Rose exited from one of the bedrooms. She had changed into a black nightgown. It was a leftover from one of Finn's one night stands and she forgot it when she left. He would have returned it but he never got her name let alone her address. But though it wasn't Rose's size, it apparently was good enough for her to wear for bed. Now standing in the hallway wearing it, Finn felt slightly awkward trying not to stare at her.

"Are you leaving?" Rose asked, oblivious to Finn's embarrassment.

"I need to get there early and make sure Miss Zhu doesn't have any surprises waiting for me," nodded Finn.

"And what are you going to do once you've gotten the truth out of her?" Rose inquired.

"Depends on what she tells me," shrugged Finn.

"Well in case you don't get back before sundown, there's something I need to tell you," Rose said. She walked closer, wanting to say this face to face. "I wanted to thank you. Not just for saving my life last night or even back in Italy. I want to thank you for compelling me not to kill humans. I still can but only to protect myself or another. I was terrified the day I turned into a vampire. That night I killed my father and I was afraid of what I'd do to the people I care about. One night I snuck out of my village but Trevor found me. We were childhood friends and he was worried about me. He didn't know I was a vampire and I hadn't drank any blood since my father so I was thirsty. I tried to fight it but the impulse was too strong and I attacked him."

Rose seemed on the verge of tears as she continued, "I managed to give him my blood to save him and when he found out he was a vampire, he took his own life so he could transition into a vampire. After that day I swore I wouldn't lose control again but it was so hard. Every night I woke, I was afraid what if today I couldn't hold back the hunger anymore. What if today I can't stop myself from killing someone? Then I met you and your compulsion changed all that. For the past four hundred years, I may have slept with one eye open but when I did sleep, it was with a clear conscience. My thirst is always under control and I never have to worry about it overtaking me again. So thank you for what you did. It was the greatest gift anyone could have ever given me."

Finn felt even more awkward. "I'm glad I could help," he finally said.

Rose asked, "Do you have any friends? I don't mean to be rude but you…"

"Don't do well with people?" Finn interrupted.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," apologized Rose.

"Don't be sorry. When you've lived as long as I have and lost so many people you care about, you tend to try to avoid having friends," replied Finn.

"Well you have one now," Rose smiled.

Finn smiled back. It's been awhile since he's had a real friend. He bonded somewhat with other people over the centuries. The fellow officers he served with during his days in the British Royal Navy or fellow jarheads during Finn's time in the Pacific War. But he always kept them at arm's length and they never knew the truth about that he was a vampire. It was nice to finally have someone he could see him for what he really was and not be afraid.

"I'm going to find out what's so important about that necklace and maybe if it's important enough, I can make a deal with the Strix," Finn said.

Rose's smile faded. "They're never going to let me or Trevor go. They made that abundantly clear back at the warehouse," she said.

"They might if an Original tells them to," Finn pointed out.

Rose was completely speechless. "I don't know what to say," she admitted.

"You don't have to. I take care of my friends," Finn told her. Rose looked like she was almost in tears but not the kind you save for funerals. She said she'd been on the run for centuries now and implied she and Trevor didn't have many friends who helped them aside from maybe Lexi.

"If you don't get home by nightfall, I need to leave and find Trevor but I'll call you," promised Rose.

"I'll let you know how it turns out," nodded Finn. He turned and headed out the door, feeling better today then what he's been for decades.

* * *

Finn arrived an hour early to his meeting. He asked Anna to meet him at his office but in the meantime, Finn climbed to the top of a nearby building to survey the area. He scanned the streets below and other buildings in the block to look for anyone who might be loitering and scouting their surroundings. Finn didn't notice anyone who stood out or seemed out of place. Nothing suspicious like a recon team waiting for a target so he waited.

Uncertainty built up inside of him. What if Anna doesn't show up? She was his only hope in finding out what is so important about that necklace. If Finn can't figure it out, he may consider not handing it over to the Strix. He wanted to help Rose but he wasn't going to do it without knowing the full facts first and Finn certainly wasn't going to get that if he deals with the Strix first. The last thing he wanted was to give away something potentially dangerous to a group of sociopaths.

An hour passed before Anna arrived via a Cadilliac Series 62 Convertible. Nice car but then again if she was whom Finn suspected she was, having it shouldn't be surprising. Finn climbed down off the building in the blink of an eye and dashed across the street, hiding in the alley next to his office building. He waited until Anna got out of her car and was about to head to the front door when Finn suddenly rushed out, grabbed her, and dragged her into the alley. To anyone nearby, the whole thing would have looked like a blur.

Finn shoved Anna up against a wall. "We need to talk," he said.

"What are you…" gasped Anna, caught completely off guard.

"Save it. Don't act so surprised. You know what I am otherwise you'd never would have hired me to find your stolen merchandise. Or should I say what you stole from the Strix," Finn growled. Anna's eyes widened at the name. "That's right. I found your thieves only it turned out they weren't really stealing. More like returning the Strix's stolen property. Now you had to have known that they would probably send vampires to take back the necklace and you didn't want to risk yourself and if you wanted to get a human to find the necklace, you'd just compel them. So you found another vampire in LA to send him on a suicide mission."

Anna, with her identity exposed, suddenly lunged forward. She slammed Finn on the opposite wall off the alley but only because he allowed it. He wanted her to expose herself and instantly overpowered her and slammed her back onto the wall other side of the alley. "You just didn't count on me being older then you," Finn added.

"You don't understand. It's not what you think…" pleaded Anna.

"Then clarify it for me and tell me the truth," Finn compelled her.

"I arranged for the necklace to be stolen from the Strix and yes I hired you because I knew you were a vampire. But I figured you'd either finish the job or you'd tell me you changed your mind if things got rough. I didn't even know if the Strix had manage to regain the necklace or some dock workers stole it, that's why I hired you to find out," Anna said, surprised by her own words. She was probably trying to stop them from coming out of her mouth but couldn't. The compulsion wouldn't allow it.

"What is so important about that damned necklace?" Finn demanded.

"It's not the necklace, it's the ruby inside of it. It's a null crystal," answered Anna.

"Null crystal?" frowned Finn.

"When shattered, it creates a burst of mystical energy that destroys any magic within its wake. Think of it as an anti-magic bomb," replied Anna.

Finn had heard of such mystical items but thought they were nothing but rumors. Even his mother Esther, an extremely powerful witch, couldn't create such a thing. The extent of how powerful these things were depended by the stories. Some described them as wiping away magic from entire cities while others had a blast radius the size of a car. It was the constant inconsistencies between them that led Finn to believe they were nothing more than fairy tales.

"Those things are a myth," scoffed Finn.

"So are vampires," Anna stated. Finn had to concede she had a point. "According to legend, two covens of witches were battling each other for supremacy in Ancient China. They forged all sorts of weapons, including null crystals. Most of them were lost either through battle or neglect through the centuries but one crystal was passed down through the surviving coven until they were finally destroyed. The crystal itself then passed through several hands until ending up with the Strix."

"And why do you want it so badly?" asked Finn.

"There's a town called Mystic Falls in Virginia. About a century ago, the townsfolk rounded up multiple vampires and locked them inside a church to be burned. But a witch managed to move them into an underground tunnel beneath it and sealed it away with a powerful spell. The vampires were saved but the townsfolk turned on the witches next, burning them all at the stake. With the coven gone, the vampires are trapped beneath the remains of the church," explained Anna.

So she wanted to use it to free your friends. How noble but Finn had no intention of helping a group of two legged leeches who had been starved for nearly a century let loose to reign vengeance upon the town that condemned them. "Then that's where they'll stay," Finn said.

He shoved down the alley, knocking her to the ground. "Get out of this city. If you try and come after me, I will hand deliver you to the Strix," Finn warned.

"Please," Anna pleaded. "I need that crystal."

"To save a bunch of monsters," Finn scoffed as he turned to leave.

"No! To save my mother!" shouted Anna. That stopped Finn in his tracks. He turned back to Anna who rose to her feet. "She's not a monster. She values human life as well as vampire life."

Finn would have called her a liar but she was still compelled to tell him the truth. "Can you say the same about every other vampire trapped with her?"

"No," sighed Anna, unable to stop herself.

"Then that is my answer," Finn said. He rushed off, disappearing in a blink of an eye and leaving Anna behind.

(Sorry for the long delay on this one. I'm split with how I'm going to end this storyline so I need a little more time to figure it out.)


	10. Noire part 3

(Okay I owe anyone still reading this a huge apology. I haven't worked on this as much as I should have so to make up for it, you're getting a larger chapter than usual. Now that I have an idea of where this story is going, I can get back to working on it.)

"This better not be some attempt at setting me up on a date Lex," Rose warned while stopping the car at a red light. They were on their way back to Finn's house thanks to Lexi forgetting her wallet though Rose suspected her friend intentionally forgot it so Rose could spend more time with Finn. Lexi was a great friend but sometimes she got on Rose's nerves.

"I can't believe you think this is a good idea," Trevor said incredulously. He was on edge ever since they mentioned seeing Finn again and now was almost a nervous wreck on their way to the Original's house.

"What are you so worried about?" Lexi asked him.

"The last time I saw him he almost killed me and Rose," protested Trevor.

"Relax Trevor. He won't hurt you," Rose assured him.

"And how could you be so certain of that?" frowned Trevor.

"Because he promised me we'd be safe around him," Rose answered.

"He promised? And you just trust that?" Trevor groaned.

Lexi rolled her eyes. "If he wanted to hurt us then why didn't he do so?" she asked.

"Did Rose forget to mention that he feeds on vampires? You said it yourself he fed on one of the Strix. Maybe that was enough to fill him up and he was just playing nice until he needed to feed again?" Trevor said.

"Trevor will you just…" Rose sighed as she turned onto Finn's street. Instantly she knew something was wrong. Police cars were parked right next to Finn's house and uniformed officers were taping off the area as a crime scene. Plain clothed detectives and crime scene technicians were scouring through the yard and house searching for evidence.

"The hell happened here?" Lexi wonder out loud.

Rose got out of the car and approached one of the uniformed officers blocking pedestrians from walking onto the crime scene. He held up his hand to warn her to stop. "That's far enough ma'am," he told her.

"What happened here?" Rose ordered, staring directly into the officer's eyes as she used compulsion to enforce her demand.

"Someone shot up the house behind me, probably some kind of mob hit judging from the amount of bullet holes but we found no bodies," the officer answered. He frowned, confused why he just admitted that to a complete stranger. Rose turned and walked back to the car where Lexi and Trevor waited for her.

"Well?" Trevor asked as Rose got back in the driver's seat.

"Someone attacked his house but there's no sign of Finn," Rose spoke.

"Probably disposing of the bodies," muttered Trevor.

"He might be in trouble," protested Rose.

"He's a bloody Original! What the hell can threaten that?" scoffed Trevor.

"Maybe we should discuss this somewhere else in case whoever attacked him isn't still around?" suggested Lexi. Rose had a sneaking suspicion that it might be the Strix but she had no idea what other enemies Finn had made over the centuries.

Rose started the ignition and turned the car around. They headed back down the street and made a left to find a parked police car blocking their path. Instantly Rose felt that same suspicious feeling she had earlier. The police car was intentionally blocking the entire street and yet there was no reason it should be there. This was the same way they took to get here a few minutes ago and it was completely clear. Something else that bothered Rose was the last of any pedestrians or other traffic. Now was the perfect opportunity for someone to spring a trap. Some might call this paranoia but paranoia is what kept Rose alive for the past few centuries.

"Trevor, Lexi, get ready to run," Rose warned them.

"What?" asked Lexi whose confusion was shared by Trevor.

Two uniformed officers got out of their car and approached them. Rose gripped the door handle to either rush out the second she suspected they were going to be attacked or fight back. The two officers separated, surrounding the car. "Good evening ma'am," the one on the driver's side said.

"Is there a problem officer?" Rose asked, bracing herself. A cry caught her attention as she turn her head to see the other cop gasping before collapsing to the ground, revealing a young woman clenching a bloody lump in her right hand. Whoever this was just ripped that officer's heart out and only a vampire was strong enough to do that with just their bare hands.

Rose turned to see the cop drawing a gun but she didn't give him a chance to fire. She opened the door and thrusted it open, slamming it into the remaining officer hard enough to knock him to the ground. Rose jumped out and saw his firearm lying on the ground. She quickly snatched it up and aimed at the cop who was starting to recover. He glanced up and froze, seeing a gun pointed at his head.

"Whoa Rose what are you doing?!" shouted Lexi.

The cop suddenly rushed at her with superhuman speed, proving he wasn't human. He tackled Rose into her car but on instinct, Rose pulled the trigger on her stolen firearm at point blank range. The cop gasped, his grip on Rose weakening as his skin began to desiccate. His body dropped to the ground lifeless.

"Wooden bullets," Rose realized as she glanced at her weapon.

"How did you know he was a vampire?" asked Trevor. In the chaos, Rose hadn't even realized her two gotten out of the car.

"I didn't but something didn't add up about them," she replied before turning her attention to the mysterious vampire who killed the other cop.

Whoever this stranger was, she had been turned young. The vampire looked like she was sixteen or seventeen years though that's probably wasn't even close to her actual age. "Who are you?" demanded Rose.

"Are you friends with Finn?" she asked.

"You're not answering my question," Rose pointed out.

"My name is Anna and we need to go," the vampire answered.

"I take it these guys were Strix," commented Lexi.

"Yeah and there's probably more on the way," Anna nodded.

Rose was reluctant to trust some random stranger but she did just help them. She didn't think for a second that those vampires dressed as cops were actually going to just talk. "Get in," Rose spoke.

The four jump into the vehicle and drove off. Rose sped up, trying her best to keep some distance from there as quickly as possible.

"What's going on?" Trevor asked Anna who had taken a seat next to him in the back.

"Those vampires you saw back there were hunting me. I was hiding out when I saw your car and after watching you, I hoped you knew Finn and decided to take a chance," she answered.

"Why are the Strix after you?" inquired Lexi.

"Because I stole something from them. Something very valuable," Anna replied.

"You're the one who hired Finn to find us," Rose realized.

"Wait…what?" Anna frowned, not expecting to hear that.

"The Strix hired us to find a necklace. When we tried to hand it over, they betrayed us. Finn managed to fight them off and saved our lives," explained Rose. Then she remembered that Finn's house was shot up. "What happened to Finn?"

"They took him. They used some witch to subdue him," Anna said. Trevor and Lexi exchanged worried looks.

"Son of a…" Rose cursed under her breath. "We've got to find him."

"How? They could have taken him anywhere," Trevor grumbled.

"I might know where he is," Anna spoke up. "I compelled people throughout the city to watch the Strix. They noticed most of the vampires pulled out of LA except for a warehouse on the outskirts of the city."

"You think they're holding him there?" wondered Lexi.

"Maybe," shrugged Anna.

"Good enough for me. Give me the address," Rose said.

"Rose wait a second…" Trevor protested.

"Trevor he saved our lives back in Italy and he saved me and Lexi last night. I am not going to repay that by leaving him to die," Rose said firmly.

"But if the Strix took down an Original, what chance do we have?" moaned Trevor.

"Finn is an Original?" Anna asked in shock.

"Yeah that was pretty much my reaction," Lexi quipped.

"I'm going. None of you have to join but I'm going," Rose stated.

"I'm coming with you. He's the only one who can help me save someone very important to me," Anna said. Rose didn't know what she meant by that but decided it wasn't really important enough to ask.

"Fine. If you're going Rose then I am too," Trevor sighed. He wasn't happy about it but he was still Rose's friend and wasn't going to let her go through this alone.

"Count me in. If we don't save him, who knows how much longer until I can find Rose another date," quipped Lexi. Rose gave her a death glare but deep down appreciated it.

* * *

Finn had grown used to waking up with a massive headache. Drowning your sorrows in a bottle was a habit he had yet to break except this was the first time it happened without drinking an ounce. He woke to find himself in some kind of warehouse filled with wooden crates. Finn attempted to move but found himself frozen in place. He was bound to a chair with ropes and the fact that they stung like hell on his skin, meant they were covered in vervain. Also a ring of powder circled the chair with several symbols scribbled onto the floor inside of it. They were markings for a containment spell. Even if he could break through his restraints, there was no way to get out of the mystical boundary surrounding him.

"Comfortable?" a voice spoke. Finn turned his head to see Amelia seated on a bench. The Strix witch was sipping from a cup of tea, probably waiting for Finn to regain consciousness before she start her interrogation.

"My dear in all my life I have never killed a witch but you are testing my patience," Finn warned her.

Amelia smiled, "Well you certainly have no lack of confidence despite your circumstances."

She set her tea down on a small table next to her and got to her feet. "Now I don't want to damage that handsome face of yours but I need some information," Amelia spoke.

"You're a witch. Why are you working with vampires?" spat Finn.

"Is that disgust in your voice?" frowned an amused Amelia. "Have you looked in a mirror lately my friend because you're the same thing as them."

"The Strix are nothing more than a conclave of sadists and sociopaths. I am nothing like them," scoffed Finn.

"Yeah but they throw the best parties. Champagne, masks, sex…lots of sex," smiled Amelia.

"Spare me the talk of your debauchery and answer my question. Why are you working with the Strix?" demanded Finn.

Amelia shrugged. "My coven was so boring. Can't use magic for fun and endless chants to honor the ancestors made me want to create a suicide spell. So I left and ran into the Strix. I get what I want, when I want, and all I have to do is do a few favors for them like this."

Amelia then pulled out a knife and grabbed Finn's head. He groaned as the witch began carving symbols on his forehead, drawing blood. "Now I need to know where Annabelle Zhu is and more importantly, where the necklace is. And since you're being incredibly uncooperative, I'm just going to need to form a connection with your spirit to read your thoughts," Amelia calmly explained.

Taking the knife dripping with blood, the witch licked Finn's blood right off the metal blade. Finn found it incredibly repulsive and thought for a second that she wasn't a witch like she claimed to be. But there were so many spells and rituals that Finn wasn't aware of, maybe drinking blood was a requisite for whatever mind spell she was attempting.

Amelia closed her eyes and started chanting. Finn instantly knew something was wrong as he felt a growing migraine inside his skull. It was if his body could sense the witch's presence inside his head and reacting to it the same way it would react to an illness.

"Wow. There is a lot going on behind inside that pretty head," remarked Amelia. Her eyes remained close but they were moving back in forth behind her eyelids as if reading something.

"So many memories, it's hard to keep them all straight. You must be really old," Amelia commented. She must be using some kind of linking spell to order to see inside his head but unfortunately for this witch, Finn understood how such spells work. Amelia might be linked to him but that works both ways. Finn bite down on his tongue, hard enough to draw blood. It hurt like hell but it achieved what he wanted.

Amelia screamed as she spit blood out of her mouth. Instantly, a vampire of Asian descent zipped next to her. He had come from somewhere else within the large room and was probably just waiting to step in should the witch get in trouble. The vampires bite his wrist and placed it on Amelia's mouth, allowing her to drink his blood. Within a few seconds, the witch began to calm down as her tongue started to heal.

Amelia glared at Finn as she wiped the blood off lower jaw. "I see someone is well versed in linking spells," she grumbled.

"That kind of mental link you used can cause both subjects to experience the same pain," smiled Finn. "I must say I'm disappointed though. I'd thought our date would be private."

"Give me an hour with him and I'll make him talk," the vampire told Amelia.

"You think you know pain child? You don't know the meaning of the word," Finn mocked him.

The vampire took a step towards Finn but Amelia stopped him. "No need for that. Get me some cloth and gag him. Try biting your tongue through a shirt stuffed in your mouth," mocked the witch.

Finn was about to respond when he heard the sound of a car accelerating to full speed followed by a crash and a loud boom. He couldn't see what was happening outside but it clearly wasn't good.

"What the hell?" Amelia cursed. The witch and vampire quickly rushed away, probably towards an exit to investigate what was going on.

Normally Finn would have taken advantage of the situation and escaped but he didn't bother. Even if he could loosen the vervain ropes, Finn still couldn't get out of the containment spell surrounding him. So he just waited for his captors to return.

Someone soon came and to Finn's surprise, it wasn't the witch or any member of the Strix. "Rose?" he gasped.

"My turn to save you," Rose quipped, keeping her voice down. She crept towards Finn then came to a halt, seeing the symbol encircling him. Rose must have had some idea what it was for her to hesitate.

"Containment spell," Finn explained. "The only way to get me out of here is to get a witch to undue it or…"

Suddenly Rose screamed in pain, clenching her head. Amelia returned to the room, her right hand raised as she cast an affliction spell on Rose.

"And you complain that I brought someone to our little get together," the witch mocked. Rose cried out as she staggered towards the table with Amelia's tea, stumbling into it and knocking it over before she collapsed to the ground.

"Wait a minute. I know you," Amelia frowned, recognizing the intruder. "You're that vampire who handed me the necklace. You're supposed to be dead!"

Rose suddenly thrusted her hand out towards the witch as an object shot through the air and hit Amelia directly in the right eye, digging itself into her skull. The witch was dead before her body even hit the ground. Staring at her corpse, Finn realized that the object lodged in the corpse's skull was a fragment of Amelia's teacup which had shattered on the floor after Rose had knocked it over. The witch's spirit probably wasn't going to like tea after this.

"Normally I'd had a witty rejoinder for something like this but my head hurts," grumbled Rose as she got to her feet but not before she grabbed another piece of the broken tea cup. She then approached Finn and used the broken shard to cut through the vervain rope.

"How'd you find me?" Finn asked.

"Thank your friend Anna. Now we need to get out of here. I don't know how much longer…" Rose explained before she went silent, glancing over Finn's shoulder.

Finn turned to see dozens of vampires holding tommy guns. "Down!" he shouted, shielding Rose with his body.

The vampires opened fire and Finn cried out as hundreds of wooden bullets bombarded his body. They pierced and penetrated his skin, ripping apart his internal organs. Finn collapsed on top of Rose as the guns went silent but the damage was done. Several bullets had penetrated his heart and his skin was starting to desiccate. He tried to whisper to Rose that everything was going to be okay but could only spit blood out of his mouth. Rose screamed as darkness overtook him.

* * *

Rose was shoved to her knees, hands bound behind her back with vervain ropes. Tears flowed down her cheeks as her eyes were fixed on Finn's lifeless corpse. The body was dragged away by one of the Strix and no doubt Rose would be joining him shortly. The sad truth was that it was something she deserved. If Rose hadn't taken the Strix's offer to get the necklace, Finn wouldn't have been hired by Anna and gotten involved in all this. Now he was dead and it was all Rose's fault. Maybe it was past time she paid for all the suffering she caused. She tried to be a good person even as a vampire but she still hurt people.

Rose was even more disheartened when more vampires arrived with Lexi, Trevor, and Anna. The three were bound and shoved to their knees right next to Rose. They were supposed to cause a distraction and then escape but clearly there were more Strix in the area then they expected. Now they were going to be killed right alongside Rose. Three more reasons she deserved what was about to happen.

"Where's Finn?" asked Lexi. Rose just shook her head. That was enough to let them know what had happened.

"Annabelle Zhu. My employers have been looking for you," a vampire of Asian descent commented, glaring at Anna. "I don't know who the rest of you are and quite frankly I don't care. All I want to know is where the necklace is. The first one to tell me where it is gets to live."

"Seriously do you actually expect us to believe that? You're going to kill us all anyways," sighed Lexi.

"There are some fates worse than death," the vampire warned.

"Yeah and we've been living it for more than four hundred years so spare us the threats," grumbled Trevor.

"Well I tried to ask nicely," smiled the vampire. He nodded to the other Strix members who grabbed their captives by the shoulders and hair to hold them in place. The lead vampire pulled out a sculpting knife as he approached Rose.

"A vampire can regenerate most lost organs which is why I came up with a little game. It's called the breaking number. In it I cut out another vampire's eyes, wait until they regenerate and then cut out the new ones. I keep repeating this over and over again until finally the vampire tells me what I want to know. The record so far stands at fifty seven. That's right, the toughest killers on the planet couldn't even make it past sixty," the vampire mocked.

He slide the knife across Rose's forehead. It didn't draw any blood but she screamed in pain as it burned her skin. The knife's blade had vervain on it and simply touching it hurt like hell. "By the way there's vervain melted into the metal," the vampire added.

"Think you're so tough because you killed an Original?" snapped Trevor, probably trying to divert attention away from Rose.

"Excuse me?" frowned the lead vampire.

"Let me guess, you didn't have the guts to fight him hand to hand. You just shot him with your guns," mocked Trevor.

"Why did you call him an Original?" demanded the vampire.

"Because that's what he was. He could compel vampires as easily as you could compel a human," replied Trevor.

The Strix vampire's eyes widened, his confidence vanishing in an instant and replaced by fear. Rose was confused, Finn was already dead so why was he suddenly so afraid? Did he think that Klaus and the other first generation vampires will come after him?

The vampire turned and yelled, "Marcus? Where's the body?!"

Marcus must have been the vampire who dragged Finn's body away. Except to Rose's confusion, he wasn't answering. With superhuman hearing, he should have heard that. Assuming he was a vampire but Rose never heard about anyone else joining the Strix other than witches.

A scream caught everyone's attention. Rose turned to see one of the Strix's goons guarding Anna dropped to the ground, revealing someone clenching a bloody lump in his hand. Rose couldn't believe her eyes. It was Finn, very much alive and he looked pissed with his eyes completely bloodshot and barring his fangs.

This was impossible. Rose saw him get shot with wooden bullets, his skin desiccated from dying just like every other vampire. There's no way he should be standing right before her. Finn then rushed towards the nearest Strix vampire and decapitated him with a simple chop to the neck. The other Strix members were slow to react as they in just as much shock as their captives were.

The Strix raised their guns but Finn was faster. Before the headless corpse could drop to the ground, Finn had pulled out its pistol from the waist belt and opened fire with superhuman speed. Each shot was a chest hit, the wooden bullets killing more than half of them within a second. Taking the opportunity, Rose swung her legs and kicked the lead vampire at the back of the knee. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. Lexi, Trevor, and Anna all sprang into action as well. Their hands might all be bound but that didn't mean they were helpless. Lexi kicked one vampire to the ground, while Trevor and Anna both leaped on top of others, knocking them all to the ground.

Finn slaughtered the rest of them, decapitating and ripping out hearts within the blink of an eye. The only one who remained alive was the lead vampire. The terrified Strix leader got back to his feet but Finn was on him before he could escape. The Original bite down on the vampire's neck, drinking his blood the same way a vampire drank from a human. The Strix tried to struggle but his efforts were futile. Having taken his fill, Finn finished him off by ripping his heart out and letting the soon to be corpse drop to the ground.

The Original tossed the heart aside and turned back to his four would be rescuers. Although at this point, it seemed like he just rescued them as he untied them one by one.

"How?" gasped Rose, still in disbelief. "They shot you with wooden bullets. I saw you die."

"I did and it hurt like hell," Finn shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Wait a second. Wooden bullets can't kill you?" asked a confused Anna.

"There's only one thing in the world that can kill an Original and it's beyond the capabilities of the Strix to obtain," explained Finn.

"Okay then. Remind me to never make an Original mad," muttered Lexi.

Rose was so happy that she couldn't stop herself from approaching Finn and hugging him. The Original was caught off guard by the gesture but returned the embrace.

"Thanks for showing up when you did," Rose said as they separated.

"I should be thanking you. If you hadn't killed that witch, I'd still be tied up to that chair," Finn.

"Hey now I helped. I mean…we all helped," protested Trevor.

Finn smiled, "Then I should thank all of you."

"Well I couldn't let anything happen to you. You know how hard it is for find a date for Rose?" chuckled Lexi. Rose gave her friend another death glare.

Finn turned his attention to Anna. "I have to say of everyone who's here, you're the one I'm surprised to see the most," he commented.

"I needed your help and yes my reasons for helping you might seem selfish but you know where the necklace is. It's the only way to save my mother," Anna said.

"And it will," Finn said, making a decision. "I'm going to help you save your mother."

Anna almost looked like she was about to cry when she heard those words. "You're serious?" she asked.

"I'll come with you to Mystic Falls and free your mother from that tomb. While you get her out, I'm going to kill the other vampires trapped inside and make sure they don't escape to reign vengeance upon the town. Agreed?" Finn replied. Anna nodded in agreement.

"You better watch your backs. Mystic Falls isn't exactly safe for vampires," Lexi point out.

"We'll be fine," Finn assured her. He then turned to Rose and asked, "Where will you go next?"

"I don't know but we can't stay here. More of the Strix might come. Trevor and I normally stay somewhere in cities. Places easy to hide in and has large hospitals with large blood banks," Rose said.

Finn then started searching through the pockets of the dead Strix members and was pleased when he found one carried a pen. The Original grabbed a piece of paper that was lying on the ground and wrote something down. He handed it over to Rose who realized it was some kind of phone number.

"This number belongs to a human I compelled to deliver messages to me. I keep him apprised of where I am but compelled him to forget unless he needs to contact me. When you figure out where to go next, just call this number and I'll get your message," Finn said. Originally this was the system he set up to communicate with Mikael but he hadn't spoken or heard from his father ever since New Orleans. It was for the best as Finn hoped he never heard from the man ever again.

"I'll remember that. It's nice to finally have another friend," nodded Rose.

"And it's nice for me to finally have one. I'll wait for your call once I help Anna," Finn smiled.

Rose smiled back. "Take care of yourself," she said.


	11. Time Capsule-2010

**Mystic Falls, Virginia-1950**

Finn couldn't believe it when he first saw the location of Mystic Falls on a map. It was the exact same place his family called home a thousand years ago. You'd never hear about it from any historians as their village was ravaged by Niklaus to cover up murdering Mother. Yet the ghosts of the past seemed to linger within the air as Finn drove Anna into the small town. He could remember the countless events that occurred during his childhood as he passed by where they occurred. There was a ravine he pulled Kol out of, the woods where his siblings all ambushed him and wrestled him to the ground as they joined him in fits of laughter, a hill where Finn watched his Mother perform a spell for the first time. So many memories but unfortunately, the best ones weren't here.

It was in Norway where the best years of Finn's life took place. The days where he would run around chasing Freya and awaited eagerly for Father to come home from his raids. Back when Mikael was a loving father and a loving husband. All four of their family was so happy until the day Dahlia came and took away Freya. She was the lynch pin of their family and with her gone, their family was destroyed. Father became bitter and angry, no longer showing affection towards anyone.

Finn shook such thoughts from his head. It didn't do any good to recall such things. Freya and Mother were dead and Father was nothing more than a monster.

Anna guided him down an empty dirt road and they parked within sight of the ruins of an old building. Much of it was gone with only the stone foundations and portions of the northern wall remained. The years had taken their toll as the woods began to reclaim the area. Vegetation had begun growing around and within the former church grounds.

Finn pulled a shovel out of the car trunk and the two headed inside the ruins to look for possible hidden passageways underground. Apparently the church had been built over top of a cave and that's where the vampires were spirted away to keep them safe when the church was burned down. Unfortunately what kept them safe was also keeping them trapped inside. The biggest problem was finding it which was actually easier said than done. They had no idea where the entrance or how deep they might have to dig in order to find it.

"Are you sure this is the actual church?" muttered Finn after they spent several hours digging around with no success. He didn't mention the idea that witches could have lied about saving the vampires and that Anna's mother was actually dead.

"I watched my mother dragged inside here before it was burned down. That's not something you just forget," Anna replied. Finn could understand that. The two moments that stuck inside his mind were the times Dahlia took away Freya and founding out that Mother was dead. Those two memories were burned inside of Finn's mind and something he could never get out no matter how much sometimes he wished they would vanish.

Finn struck earth with his shovel in a new location when he heard something different. It sounded like he just hit wood underneath the dirt. Strange thing to have buried within the church foundations especially since almost any wooden aspect of the building had been burned up in the fire. He dug deeper to find an old and almost rotted wooden door. Finn smiled as he grabbed it and using his superhuman strength, pulled it right out of the ground. Underneath it was a spiral staircase leading underground.

Anna came rushing over, her eyes widened in anticipation. She was excited, being so close to finally reuniting her mother. Finn took the lead, descending first. He didn't require a torch or flashlight to see ahead of him. The darkness had always been a friend to vampires with their enhanced vision. Though Finn still pulled out a flashlight to see where he was going better. The two vampires followed the staircase down to an underground chamber comprised of brick and stone. Judging from the pentagrams etched on the walls, this definitely wasn't part of the church.

"What is this place?" Finn asked.

"I heard rumors there used to be a haven for witches here. The locals drove them out and destroyed their home only to rebuild a church on top of it. Guess they didn't know about this," explained Anna.

A moan caught their attention. It was coming from behind a door sealed shut on a stone wall with a pentagram etched on it. Finn approached it and felt around but couldn't find any obvious way to open it. This must be what the witch used to seal the vampires inside.

"I'm guessing you need magic to open this," Finn remarked.

"Then it's time to use that necklace," suggested Anna.

Finn pulled out the ruby necklace he kept in his coat pocket. He tugged at the ruby gem, pulling it off the necklace. "Do you know how this is supposed to work?" he asked.

"You just throw it hard enough to shatter it and that should do the trick," replied Anna.

Finn took a moment to ready himself then hurled the ruby at the door. The jewel slammed against the stone surface and shattered. Suddenly it exploded in a flash of bright light, so bright that Finn was forced to cover his eyes. He could also hear some kind of sound that was similar to a screech but it didn't sound like any living thing he's ever heard before. The sound diminished along with the light until the chamber became once again silent and utter darkness.

"Did it work?" Anna asked. "I know that might seem like a stupid question but…"

Finn understood her hesitation. Just because the ruby created a big lights show doesn't mean it destroyed the magic barrier around that door. Finn approached it and felt around again only this time the stone slab was loose. Smiling, he shoved it open as air blew inside of it probably for the first time in almost a hundred years.

"You go first. Let me know which vampire is your mother. I'll handle the rest," Finn said.

Anna nodded, taking the lead. She certainly wasn't happy about knowing the other vampires were going to be slaughtered but it was non-negotiable. They've been trapped down here for nearly a century and Finn wasn't going to let them take out their anger on the innocent people of this town.

The two entered the darkened cavern tunnel comprised of stone and brick as moaning echoed across the walls. The vampires could sense their presence and were responding with muffled cries for help. They came across their first vampire, a male chained to the wall and whose skin was so desiccated it was almost impossible to tell his ethnicity. Finn calmly knelt down and plunged his hand into the vampire's chest, ripping his heart out. He moaned and then went still.

"At least he won't suffer anymore," remarked Finn though it was clear Anna was uneasy by what she just witnessed. She probably knew some of them but Finn didn't have any sympathy for them. They were vampires and aside from a few like Rose, Lexi, Anna, and maybe Trevor, Finn considered the rest to wild animals that needed to be put down. He thought his hunter instincts died after what happened with Mikael in New Orleans but it seems the thirst for the blood of vampires had never truly gone away.

The pattern repeated itself as they moved from one vampire to the next. Finn would kill the male vampires instantly while allowing Anna a chance to examine the female vampires. So far she shook her head with each one so Finn finished them off. Their search ended as they approached another female vampire.

"Annabelle," the vampire whispered, her voice barely audible even with superhuman hearing.

"Mother!" shouted Anna as she rushed to her mother's side. Since they didn't have any other source of blood, Anna bite her own wrist and put it up to Pearl's mouth. "Drink Mother you need to regain your strength."

Pearl moaned, possibly to protest drinking from her own daughter but soon began to accept the crimson gift as it dripped into her mouth.

Now that Anna found her mother, it was time for Finn to finish the job. It didn't take him long before he made his way through the tunnel and killed the rest of them. He counted twenty six vampires including Pearl that had been trapped down here and now they wouldn't be a problem ever again. Finn returned to Anna to find her mother was starting to regain her strength.

Pearl struggled to get to her feet as her blood shot eyes narrowed at the sight of the Mikaelson. "Who…are…?" she asked in a raspy voice.

"He's a friend Mom. Let's just get you out of here," Anna urged.

Finn frowned as he started to hear the sound of cracking within the ceiling. What was more concerning was that it wasn't going away but it seemed to be getting louder. It just dawned on him that magic wasn't just what kept the cavern sealed but possibly from collapsing as well. By shattering that null crystal on the door, they removed the only thing stopping a cave in.

"Anna we need to leave," Finn said. Anna and Pearl glanced up, hearing what he could too. Finn grabbed both of them and took off down the tunnel as dust and rocks began to drop to the floor. They almost reached the end as the ceiling came crashing down on top of them.

* * *

 **Mystic Falls, Virginia-2010**

Heaving as he pulled another rock out of the way, Damon Salvatore lifted up a several hundred pound boulder and hurled aside. He then grabbed the next one and pulled it out before tossing it aside. This whole process had been going on for days as Damon spent hours upon hours trying to dig his way into the collapsed tunnel. It might take him weeks to finally get through but that wasn't going to stop him.

One hundred and forty-six years Damon had waited to get inside this tomb, one hundred and forty-six years of betrayal, loneliness, boredom, and so many memories he was more than happy to forget. Whether it was being betrayed by his family or suffer boredom with members of the opposite sex whose only interesting traits was the blood flowing through their veins and the amusing screams they make as they die. Damon was desperate to finally bring back the one person who made him feel alive.

He met Katerina Petrova back in the 1860s and it was love at first sight. Well it was for Damon but Katerina…or to the rest of the town knew her as Katherine Pierce…wasn't so quick to make a choice. She loved to spend time with Damon and his younger brother Stefan, manipulating and playing the two. Damon wasn't an idiot. He knew he was a toy to her but he didn't care. He loved her and Katherine loved him in her own way. She wanted to turn him into a vampire so they could spend the rest of eternity together. She also wanted to turn Stefan as well but whatever. As long as Damon got to be with Katherine forever but Stefan had to go and ruin everything.

Little brother subtly tipped off Katherine's true nature to Daddy who in turn put vervain in Stefan's drink. When Katherine fed on Stefan, the vervain in his blood weakened her enough for Father to chain her up and drag her away to a Fell's Church. The founding families of Mystic Falls were gathering up vervained vampires and locking them inside the building before setting it ablaze. Damon couldn't save Katherine from being taken but he could ambush the cart transporting her to the church. Stefan tagged along to help undue the mess he made. He was lucky Damon needed his help.

The rescue was an epic failure. Not only did the brothers not rescue Katherine but they ended up getting shot and killed. That should have been the end of them but instead they arose the next morning neither living nor dead. They were in transition to become vampires caused by dying with Katherine's blood in their veins. All that was needed to finish their transformation was to drink human blood but Damon refused. He thought Katherine was dead and didn't want to live without her let alone as a beast. Stefan had other ideas and practically forced his brother to drink blood. For that Damon promised him an eternity of misery though to his brother's credit, Stefan has brought Damon his fair share of misery as well.

Damon received a daylight ring from a witch named Emily Bennett who had been a close friend of Katherine. The witch rekindled the vampire's hope when she told him that Katherine was still alive but trapped inside a chamber underneath a church. Emily couldn't undue the spell to open it until the comet she used to channel the spell in the first place returned which wouldn't occur for another 145 years. So Damon waited all that time only for the spirit of Emily to betray him and destroy the talisman needed to open the tomb to freed Katherine.

Damon searched for an alternate way to open it, only to be rebuffed at every turn. So he came to the ruins church one last time to say goodbye. He planned on leaving Mystic Falls and keep searching but to his surprise, there was a hole in the ground. It hadn't been there all the times Damon had been there before so it must be recent. He jumped inside to find the entrance to the chamber collapsed. Turns out the mystic barrier wasn't there, assuming it was ever there to begin with. Damon wouldn't put it past Emily to lie about some magical barrier to keep him away so he started digging and kept on digging for the next several days, only stopping to get a drink from a blood bag. His absence was probably noticed by Stefan and others around town. Damon had several missed calls but he didn't bother returning them. All that mattered was getting Katherine out of there and he wasn't going to stop until she was.

Damon heard something behind him. The sound of something hitting the ground dropped from the ceiling. He turned and to his annoyance, there was Stefan having jumped down into the chamber. "Wonderful. Just what I need," grumbled Damon.

"Damon…" Stefan tried to speak. Almost instantly, Damon realized what was going on. The guilty look on his brother's face and the fact that he wasn't stunned by this chamber. Stefan had already been here. The little liar knew about this and neglected to tell his brother. Yet another betrayal, what a shock.

"You seem remarkably unsurprised about all of this," Damon remarked, extending his hands out to indicate the whole chamber.

"Don't do this Damon," Stefan urged him. He wasn't denying the charge and that told Damon all he needed to know.

"You knew about this!" Damon shouted. "You knew that the chamber was open and that Katherine could be freed and you never told me!"

"Katherine had brought nothing but misery into our lives," Stefan protested.

"Oh right she's so horrible and yet you're knocking boots with her look-a-like," Damon mocked.

"Elena is nothing like Katherine," Stefan hissed.

"But you certainly are. You could have told me about this place so I can get Katherine out of here. We'd leave Mystic Falls behind and you can wallow in the hell that is high school with your precious Elena," accused Damon. "Instead you just kept your mouth shut. What's a matter Stefan? Jealous because you know that Katherine would chose to leave with me and not you?"

"Stop it," sighed Stefan, his brother getting on his nerves.

Damon couldn't resist twisting the knife. "Or maybe you want to keep me around so you can remind Elena what a great guy you are. Have me play the villain whenever the situation needs one so you don't have turn into the Ripper if you're ever in trouble. Then she'd see you for who you really are and she will hate you," he mocked.

Stefan lunged forward, taking Damon by surprise and tackling him into the short tunnel that the elder Salvatore had dug out over the past few days. Damon shoved his brother away, launching him across the room. He was about to get up and continue this little family bonding experience when a hand slide out from the debris right next to Damon. It was a women's and was unnaturally pale with no sign of rot. Probably had come loose during the little Salvatore brawl. What really caught Damon's attention was the familiar looking ring on the fourth finger. It was a daylight ring.

"Katherine?" Damon gasped. He immediately forgot about his brother and started digging away. To his credit, Stefan didn't try anything as Damon loosened the debris around the hand and started to pull whoever it belonged to out. It wouldn't budge so he kept digging, hurling rocks and stones out of his way. Finally he managed to have some success and pulled on the hand, wrenching its owner free from the cave in.

Damon turned the desiccated corpse over and to his disappointment, it wasn't Katherine. He sighed in disappointment then noticed another hand almost completely covered in debris. This one belonged to a man but Damon pulled him out anyways along with another woman, this one older then the first one. Both desiccated but no rot and they had distinct looking rings on their hands. They were vampires.

"Anna?" Stefan whispered. Damon turned to realize his brother was standing over the first woman.

"As in Pearl's daughter?" Damon asked, remembering that name.

"How she'd get in here? I saw her the night the other vampires were rounded up. I thought she escaped," Stefan frowned in confusion.

"Well why don't we find out Nancy Drew," suggested Damon. The quarrel between the two brothers was seemingly forgotten as Damon pulled out a blood bag from a cooler he brought and fed it to the youngest looking vampire. Instantly her eye's snapped open, bloodshot as she began sucking on the crimson offering.

"You're right it is her," Damon commented, recognizing her as Anna's skin began to smooth out and restore its color. She glanced up, finally noticing the Salvatore brothers.

"Damon? Stefan?" Anna whispered, her voice raspy and dry.

"What happened here? Where's Katherine?" Damon demanded.

"What?" Anna asked, confused.

"Where's Katherine?!" Damon shouted, losing his patience.

"Damon give her a moment," Stefan tried to calm him down.

"I've waited 145 years. I'm done waiting. Where is she?!" Damon snapped.

"Katherine? She's not here. She was never here," moaned Anna, still reeling from who knows how long she's been trapped in that cave in.

Damon suddenly grabbed Anna by the throat, violently choking her. "You're lying!" he screamed.

Stefan quickly intervened, wrenching Damon's hands from her and shoving him back. "Back off and let her speak!" snapped Stefan.

Damon glared at him but didn't make a move. He wasn't going to admit that his brother had a point. He needed to know what happened to Katherine.

Stefan turned to Anna and asked, "What happened here? I thought a spell kept the vampires in here trapped."

"It did but I found a way to destroy it," Anna answered. That caught both Salvatore's attention. "I was trying to rescue my mother when the cave collapsed on top of us. The witches probably rigged it that way in case anyone managed to bypass their barrier."

"What about Katherine?" demanded Damon.

"She was never in here Damon. I met up with her years after the church fire. She managed to get away," spoke Anna.

Damon wanted to call her a liar and rip her head off. Yet what reason did Anna have for lying to him? Maybe Katherine didn't know where Damon was and even if he was still alive. That might explain it. She couldn't find him after she escaped so she moved on.

Anna noticed the cooler and sped over to it, grabbing two more blood packs and rushing towards the other desiccated vampires. Stefan and Damon were in such shock that neither of them did anything to stop her. Anna stuffed tubes into both the vampire's mouths and squeezed the blood bags, forcing blood down their throats. Within seconds, the vampires began to twitch and their skin began to return to normal.

"Where is she now?" Damon whispered.

Anna threw him a look. "Are you kidding me? I've stuck in here since…what year is it?" she scoffed.

"2010," answered Stefan.

"Dammit," Anna cursed.

A furious Damon suddenly rushed her, slamming her into a wall and grabbing her by the neck. "Where is Katherine?!" he shouted.

"Damon calm…" Stefan tried to say but never got a chance to finish.

Suddenly Damon felt someone grabbing him by the throat and he was lifted into the air. He gasped, his attacker's grip was vice-like. Damon glanced down to realize he was being attacked by the male vampire who had been buried along with Anna. Son of a bitch this guy was strong and he recovered incredibly fast. He had just fed after being stuck in that cave-in for probably a long time and he already had the strength to overpower Damon with ease.

Stefan rushed in and managed to pull his brother free though it seemed the attacker wasn't interested in fighting anymore. Probably just wanted to make sure Damon didn't hurt Anna.

"Whoa everyone just calm down," Stefan told everyone.

"Anna," moaned the other woman who was a little dazed and trying to get her bearings. It didn't take a genius to figure out this had to be Pearl, Anna's mother. The little vampire did just admit that he got into the tomb to free her mother.

Anna quickly rushed to her mother's side while Stefan checked on Damon. "You okay?" Stefan asked him.

"I'm so touched by your concern Stefan that I almost forgot our little argument a few minutes ago," quipped Damon. Stefan rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"How long have we been trapped down here?" the strong vampire asked, though the question was to no one in particular.

"Well it's 2010 Sleeping Beauty so you might wanna grab a calculator and…" Damon jested only to get an elbow in the gut from Stefan to shut him up.

"Sixty years," the vampire hissed.

"Look we have a home on the outskirts of town. It's not too far and you can get yourselves cleaned up and more acquainted with what's happened over the past few decades," Stefan suggested to the other vampires.

His older brother glared at him and was about to protest. "And you can tell us everything you know about Katherine," Stefan added.

Damon shut his mouth, grudgingly going along with the idea at least for now.

* * *

Sixty years. Not since Finn was daggered by the Hunters and left to rot by his siblings had he lost so much time and he felt just as angry now as he did when he was awakened by Sage nine centuries ago. Six decades was nothing but the blink of an eye compared to Finn's long lifespan. The problem was that for the past nine hundred years, his life was nothing more than hunting down vampires and killing Klaus. But after what happened in New Orleans, Finn forsaked his old life and try to build a new one. He wandered aimlessly from job to job, city to city, until he ended up in Los Angeles.

During a job as a private investigator, Finn reunited with an old face from his past. Rose-Marie was the first vampire he ever spared along with her companion Trevor. Finn hadn't seen either of them in five centuries and yet ended up crossing paths with them along with two other vampires named Lexi and Anna. When Finn had been taken by the Strix, the four of them risked their own lives to save him. Finally Finn felt like had he had found people he could consider friends after so many years of intentionally isolating himself from others.

Then the cave-in happened while rescuing Anna's mother and now Finn truly felt the pain of so much lost time. He would have felt nothing losing sixty years during his vampire hunting days but that was before he had friends. Now who knows what happened to them, specifically to Rose. He promised he would help her if she ever needed it. Would Rose think he abandoned her after getting no response from him for more than sixty years?

Finn had learned a little bit about the decades that passed by. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was over as the USSR no longer existed. Now the world powers were more obsessed with regions in the Middle East for one reason or another. Jazz and classical music had been replaced by countless other forms of music though Damon insisted Finn not bother with something called Punk. A black man had been elected President, that was certainly a change from the fifties. Phones had completely changed since Finn went into that tomb. Now they were cordless, handheld, and a mix of a camera, flashlight, calculator, and more rolled into one machine. Mankind had walked on the moon, something not even the most powerful witch coven ever thought was possible.

Yet the only thing Finn really wanted to know was if he had any messages waiting for him. Only Rose knew the number but Finn wasn't surprised the number belonging to the messenger he compelled was no longer in service. The human probably passed away from old age. Now Finn had no way of finding Rose and who knows how long it would take him to find her again. He comforted himself in the knowledge that he hadn't been looking for her before they reunited. Now he wasn't going to stop until he did find her.

Finn, Anna, and Pearl stayed at a large estate owned by the Salvatores as they drank extra blood to regain their full strength and get a better grasp on how society has changed. In exchange for their hospitality, Anna told the vampire brothers everything she knew about a vampire named Katherine Pierce. Imagine Finn's surprise when he found out Katherine was actually Katerina Petrova, the doppelganger who escaped from the clutches of Klaus thanks to Rose and Trevor. He didn't say anything about it though as it was ultimately irrelevant. It was clear that Damon was furious listening to all of this just as it was completely obvious that he was in love with Katherine. Hearing about the woman he loved being out in the world and apparently wasn't not even looking for him, Damon heard enough. He stormed out of the house in the blink of an eye.

"So what now?" Stefan asked Pearl.

"Now we reclaim our home," Pearl said firmly. "Mystic Falls was our home once and it will be again."

"Mother are you crazy? We almost lost everything here," protested Anna.

"The Council that tried to kill all the vampires in 1864 is still around. Mystic Falls isn't safe for vampires," Stefan pointed out.

"Then why are you here?" asked Pearl.

"…It's complicated," sighed Stefan.

"Maybe your reasons are but mine aren't. This was my home and I won't let it be taken from me or my daughter," Pearl replied.

"The Council may think vampires are gone for now but if they even suspect there are vampires…" Stefan urged.

"They already took away my home and more than a hundred and fifty years away from my daughter, they won't take anything else!" snapped Pearl.

Finn understood her anger but couldn't let this go on. From what the Salvatores claimed, Mystic Falls wasn't safe for vampires at the moment. It could be they were lying but the fact that 27 vampires were trapped underneath a burnt down church did lend their claims credibility. Anna and Pearl would be safer leaving this town but pride dug its roots deep. Finn watched it be the death of so many others but that wasn't going to happen here.

"Anna may I speak to you in private?" Finn asked. The younger vampire nodded and the two headed out into the hallway. Technically they were both in earshot of everyone else but if you whisper quiet enough then even vampire couldn't hear it. In order to do this, you had to speak so softly that you could barely hear yourself speak. It was virtually impossible for normal humans to hear such conversations but a vampire could. To a normal human, it would look like the two were lip reading each other.

"I could compel her to leave if you want. Normally I wouldn't use such a thing on my friends but if what these Salvatores are saying is true about this town, vampires aren't safe here. I don't have many friends and I'd rather not lose what few I have," explained Finn.

Anna didn't seem angry at the suggestion. In fact she seemed surprised. "Is that what we are? Friends?" she asked.

"Why else would I come with you? Killing those other vampires was just a precaution to make sure none of them were freed when we got your mother," Finn pointed out.

She glanced at her Mother then back at Finn, uncertain. "I give you my word I won't do it to either of you unless you ask me to," the Original promised.

Anna frowned, "Why would I ask you to compel me?"

"In case you want to forget some painful memory or want to make sure you don't do something no matter what. I once compelled Rose never to kill a human being unless in self-defense and she called it a gift," Finn explained.

"Uhhh….I appreciate the offer but I'll pass," Anna said, clearly uncomfortable. Finn couldn't blame her knowing someone could tamper with her mind as easily as a human's.

"So if I…convince your mother to leave, where will you go?" asked Finn.

"I don't know. Somewhere far away from here and somewhere with no vampires or humans plotting their demise. Just somewhere quiet we can settle down and start over," Anna spoke. Finn tried that several times over the centuries but they always ended in failure. The problem with immortality is that your life never ends whereas everyone else around you eventually fades away. It's hard to build up relationships with people when you know they always end up dying.

"What about you?" Anna asked.

"Rose is still alive, I just know it. She survived for nearly five hundred years on the run so I'm certain she managed to survive the past sixty years. I'm going to find her," Finn stated.

"Well if I hear anything about her, I'll let you know," promised Anna.

The front door opened as someone stepped inside. "Stefan!" a women's voice called out.

Finn couldn't believe his ears when he heard the voice. He hadn't heard it for a thousand years but he remembered it well. Tatia lived in the same village as Finn and the rest of his family. After her husband died, both Elijah and Klaus competed for her attention and affection. Personally Finn found it nauseating but Tatia herself wouldn't live long to enjoy her games. After the Mikaelson children were turned into vampires, Elijah killed her and Mother covered it up. Finn remembered watching her using magic to make Elijah forget the unspeakable crime of murdering someone he loved.

Finn dashed towards the main hallway to see his suspicions were correct. There standing before him was the spitting image of Tatia. She gasped upon seeing the Original. "Who are you?" the doppelganger demanded, starting to back away.

"Katherine!" hissed Anna who had followed Finn. She bared her fangs before attempting to rush at the doppelganger. Finn managed to grab the younger vampire by the arm, holding her back.

"Wait," Finn urged her.

Stefan and Damon entered the hallway to investigate the commotion and realized what was happening. Both of them quickly dashed in front of Elena in case Anna managed to break free of the Original's grasp.

"Anna stop. She's not who you think she is," Finn told her.

"Katerina," gasped Pearl who entered the hallway, her furious eyes fixed on the doppelganger.

"Wait! She's not Katherine," Stefan spoke up.

"I cannot believe you two are still…!" shouted Anna, obviously not believing the Salvatore.

"She's a doppelganger!" Finn yelled, drowning everyone out. Thankfully that managed to get everyone's attention and somewhat diffuse the situation at least for the moment.

"I'm a what?" frowned the doppelganger.

"Elena what are you doing here?" demanded Stefan.

"Let me guess. Stefan left you a message not to come over and you decided to do it anyways. My brother has that effect on people. Whenever he tells me to do something, I always do the opposite," smirked Damon. Elena and Stefan both glared daggers at the elder Salvatore.

After everyone calmed down, they assembled in the living room where Finn explained what he knew about the doppelgangers. He neglected to mention everything that could give away that he was an Original but he did share that the doppelganger phenomenon has been going on for probably more than a thousand years. No one really knows their origins but supposedly their blood was a very potent magic catalyst that witches could use to perform various spells and rituals.

"I know of only two other doppelgangers. One was a woman named Tatia who lived in the same village I grew up in and the other was Katerina Petrova. She betrayed a friend of mine and has been on the run ever since," explained Finn.

"On the run from who?" asked Damon.

"His name is Klaus," answered Finn. That got all the other vampires' attention especially Pearl.

"Klaus?" gasped Pearl, the blood starting to drain from her face. "As in one of the Originals?"

"The very same," nodded Finn. Pearl looked like she was about to have a panic attack but Anna remained calm and silent. Finn was glad she wasn't exposing his identity as an Original in front of all these strangers. It wasn't something he usually bragged about and usually people who found it about it ended up dead by Finn's own hands. But that was another lifetime when Finn was a hunter and he swore those days were over.

"Who are the Originals?" asked Elena.

"The first generation of vampires," spoke Stefan.

"What did Katherine do to piss Klaus off?" Damon asked.

"He needs the blood of a doppelganger to break a powerful curse. Katherine escaped before the ritual could be performed and managed to turn herself into a vampire, making her useless. Klaus isn't known for letting things go and he's been hunting her down ever since," Finn replied.

"How do you know that?" asked Elena.

"Because my friend that I mentioned earlier was the one who turned inadvertently turned Katherine so she's been on the run as well," Finn spoke.

Pearl got to her feet. "We're leaving Annabelle," she said firmly.

"Wait but I thought…." Anna started to say.

"I'm not staying within a hundred miles of this town. If Klaus is coming after Elena then we can't be anywhere near here," Pearl said.

"How you know Klaus even knows Elena exists?" asked Stefan.

"We're not staying here in case he does. This is not someone you want to make an enemy of," Pearl said. Finn and Anna shared a relieved look. At least Pearl didn't need to be compelled to leave town.

* * *

After leaving a cell number for Finn to be able to reach Anna, she and her mother left and headed to the nearest bus station for a ride out of town. Finn stayed a little longer in the Salvatore estate to get his bearings on the current times. He used something called the Internet to get caught up on how society evolved and how it had an unusual obsession with people named the Kardashians. Finn found them to be a waste of time and was perplexed why so many people found them entertaining but that's not what he was truly searching for.

Finding Rose would be like finding a needle in the haystack. She hadn't stayed alive for centuries by being stupid but Finn did have a lead. Rose said that she and Trevor often stayed in cities, usually near hospitals with large blood banks. He painstakingly wrote down the phone numbers and addresses of almost every major hospital in the country and blood banks of the Red Cross. This would take a long time to go through them but Finn was immortal and had nothing but time. There was no guarantee he would even find a real lead to her but he still had to try.

However before he could leave, Finn still needed to do one more thing. He asked Stefan and Damon if he could speak to Elena. The two agreed but only they were in the same room as well. Finn could tell both of them cared about her and found it slightly irritating. Watching Klaus and Elijah fawning over Tatia was nauseating enough so seeing it repeat itself on another doppelganger was somewhat annoying.

"As long as Klaus doesn't know you exist, you'll be safe but should he ever find out then he will never stop hunting you," Finn explained.

"Gee aren't you just a ray of sunshine," muttered Damon.

"Which is why I'll be willing to help you if he does find out. Klaus and I have some unfinished business," Finn replied.

"He killed someone you cared about didn't he?" Elena surmised. Finn found himself speechless for a moment. It's been so long since he's spoken about Sage and he found it difficult to talk about.

"He did," Finn finally spoke up. "And I have spent virtually every moment since then plotting his death. I came close several times but he escaped every time. Don't get the idea that fighting him would be easy though. Klaus is more dangerous than you can possibly know. The best thing any of you can do is keep a low profile and try not to draw attention to yourselves. Hopefully you'll be able to live your entire life without Klaus every knowing but if he should come for you…"

Finn handed Elena a piece of paper containing the number to the cell phone the Salvatores got the Original. "…call me and I'll come."

(Okay that should cover season one of TVD in this story. I know this changes several things in the latter half of the season without the rest of the tomb vampires and Anna and Pearl leaving Mystic Falls but things mostly stay the same. John Gilbert uses the Gilbert device to try and kill Damon and Stefan but fails. Mayor Lockwood is still alive, Katherine shows up in town and causes the same havoc. Rose and Trevor abduct Elena, Elijah kills Trevor, Stefan and Damon save Elena, and Rose shows up at the Salvatore estate to offer her help.)


End file.
